William Fox-Pitt and Bay My Hero
While 19 combinations managed to ride around Derek Di Grazia’s cross country course at Rolex Kentucky adding nothing to their dressage score, the leaders after dressage, Alison Springer and Arthur were sadly not one of them. Dropping down to 26th place with a run-out at the C element of Fence 21, Alison left the door wide open for William Fox-Pitt and Bay My Hero who walked right in.
"I just needed to kick, and I held. I didn't get there in three strides, and I had a run-out," said Alison but William and Catherine Witt’s bay gelding were clear and under time, as were all but one of today’s top 10 combinations, with just Michael Pollard and Mensa G, now in fifth place picking up two time penalties.
William also finished in 16th place on Seacookie, who picked up just 7.6 time faults. "I was thrilled with both my horses, particularly Bay My Hero, because he was the less experienced of the two, and he'd never done a three-day with hills like this," he said "He was especially surprised by the Head of Lake and all the people there. But he carried his tubby little body around the course inside the time."
Time didn’t seem a problem for Phillip Dutton who not only had a double clear on Mr Medicott, moving him into third place behind Lauren Keiffer and Veronica but he also picked up a two year lease on a Land Rover Evoke for being closest to the optimum of 11:12 on Boyd Martin’s Trading Aces, now lying in ninth place.
Boyd, who broke his leg only weeks ago, was apparently riding every stride with Phillip as he watched on the large screen. However despite his friend’s remote assistance, Phillip said he would not be sharing the car, because Boyd had already won a different model of car with Trading Aces earlier this year!
Phillip Dutton riding Mr. Medicott (above) and Lauren Keiffer riding Veronica (below), both horses previously campaigned by Karen O'Connor
Karen O’Connor, who previously rode both Veronica and Mr Medicott before retiring due to injury, must be very happy with how her protégées are performing. Lauren was thrilled with the mare Veronica saying “She really fought for it - we knew we had to ride every combination and it had big questions. Everything rode the way I expected it to - I knew going out I was going to have to fight and focus on being accurate and so I was quite happy with her” while Phillip said he just let Mr Medicott do his job “I thought the conditions were ideal for the running today and my first horse really learned a lot today and Mr Medicott has been around so many courses throughout the world I was just hanging on and letting him do it so it was a pretty easy trip for him!”
There were some suggestions that the course may not have been tough enough for a Championship year, with half the field completing the course without jumping faults. 55 horses started on the cross-country course and 20 finished without jumping faults or time faults. Another 10 horses finished with no jumping faults but with time faults ranging from 1.6 to 14.8, and 10 more finished with jumping faults and time faults. Ten horses were eliminated, and six retired on course.
However both William and Andrew Nicholson seemed happy with how it rode
"I don't think any of us thought it was easy. There were still quite a few that didn't get around, and I think it's very important to strike a balance," said William "The ground was perfect, and the result shows the quality of the field. Hopefully it set them up to compete well at the World Equestrian Games in France late this summer”
Last year’s winner Andrew moved up to seventh place riding Avebury (above), picking up no faults on cross country but having a bit of a moment at the water park
“It was a bit my fault there. Avebury, when he lands he always lands after a jump on his left lead which means a turn to the right you lack a bit of distance, so I thought when I walked the course if I just took my time and do four strides where it should be three, but I jumped in too big and I should have kept going on the three but I tried for the four and the fourth was very deep - but he's experienced and that's what he's fed for!”
He too was happy with the course "I thought Derek has raised the game a bit more since last year. I thought last year that he had a lot of smooth turns in the combinations that we all, of course, liked. This year those turns were sharper. A few years ago we would have all said it was too twisty, but they rode smoothly. You have to keep challenging everyone-that's what makes better riding. Derek does a great job-he really knows what horses jump safely."
Kate Chadderton and Collection Pass
Andrew’s compatriot Sir Mark Todd chose to withdraw Oloa (owned by Di Brunsden, Peter Cattrell, Pip McCarroll and Todd) before cross country and will now head to Luhmuhlen in June. Australia's Kate Chadderton sadly was eliminated on course but both horse and rider are fine and no doubt we'll be hearing from Kate soon about her first 4* experience
Andrew, who would need to win here to be in with a chance of contesting the Rolex Grand Slam, is 7.7 penalties behind William while there is less than one rail between the top two riders, making for an exciting finale tomorrow
