Lexington, KY – The next round of Land Rover Competition and Training Grant Recipients will test their eventing skills at the 2011 Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials in Woodstock, England September 8-11. 2010 winner William Fox-Pitt (on Parklane Hawk) are fresh from their win at last week’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, will have two chances to win the CCI3*, but the U.S. is coming well-armed with an arsenal of horses and riders.
Phillip Dutton (West Grove, PA) will lead the effort as the most experienced rider in the group. The four-time Olympian (and two-time Olympic Gold medalist while representing Australia) will ride Bruce Duchossois’ Mighty Nice in the horse’s first CCI3*. A recipient of a 2011 Land Rover Competition and Training Grant, Dutton was second at the Blenheim CCI3* in 2003 on Nova Top. Mighty Nice is a 7-year-old Irish Sport gelding who was third at the Bromont International CCI2* in June.
“I’m excited to bring Mighty Nice to Blenheim,” said Dutton. “I believe he is a horse with a big future and I think Blenheim will be a great stepping stone for him.”
Clark Montgomery (Chattahoochee, GA) is a former Young Rider champion and he too is a 2011 Land Rover Competition and Training Grant Recipient. He will ride Kathleen Kraft, Carole Montgomery and Holly Becker’s winning machine Loughan Glen. With the 8-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, Montgomery won the CCI2* last fall at the Fair Hill International, earning National Championship honors in the process, he has won four Horse Trials so far in 2011 and the Bromont International CCI3*. Most recently he won his final preparation at the Millbrook Horse Trials in August.
