Whoops! Not that way - The USA's Julie Norman and Consensus were one of the 15 eliminations of the day
Despite the heavily falling rain, over 30,000 spectators came out to Kentucky Horse Park to watch the day’s action unfold on Derek Di Grazia’s cross country course. As predicted the rain steadily increased throughout the day and the going worsened for those competitors later in the draw including the equal leader overnight, Michael Jung and third placed William Fox-Pitt. It wasn’t all plain sailing for the earlier competitors either although America’s Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz showed what could be done as the first combination out, coming home clear and under time – one of only six combinations during the day to achieve that – to move up from equal 49th to 14th as a reward. Later in the day Colleen jumped another clear round on Covert Rights but picked up 12 time penalties to finish in 10th spot
Rookie American rider Elise Wallace also showed that the course needed to be attacked and added only 7.2 time faults to her dressage score to move up to 12th place; Elise was so delighted that, in the joy of springing off her horse Simply Priceless at the end of the course, she forgot to detach her air vest.
Tim Price and Wesko
Another rookie, young Mackenna Shea sadly didn’t have the same success. In sixth place overnight the 22 year old and her warmblood Landioso who put in such a good test on Friday were eliminated on cross country at Fence 21, one of 15 horses eliminated while 10 retired on course. Mackenna’s fall meant a hold for the equal overnight leader Tim Price and Wesko which turned into quite a lengthy wait of nearly nine and a half minutes.
With Tim and Michael Jung both on a score of 36.3 heading into the cross country, the time was always going to be critical and Tim admitted afterwards that he was not entirely sure of how close he was to optimum time on completing the course. A little down on time before the hold, Wesko looked fit and full of running when they resumed and made up ground to finish strongly on his dressage score of 36.3 so Tim simply had to wait and see what Michael Jung could pull out of the hat on his second horse, La Biosthetique Sam FBW.
Michael had already been round on FischerRocana FST, producing a beautiful double clear, and towards the end of the day headed out on La Biosthetique Sam. Michael needed some quick reactions at the Coffin but he appeared to be challenging Tim’s lead until literally the very last second. Seemingly slowing at the very end, Michael and La Biosthetique Sam were just one second under, giving them 0.4 penalty points to finish on 36.7 and hand the lead, albeit a very narrow one, to Tim while FischerRocana finished the day in third place on 39.3.
Michael and La Biosthetique Sam
The experienced riders could be seen to be picking their route through the course, choosing the best ground to gallop on rather than the middle of the lanes where the track was becoming chopped up. There was plenty of room to manoeuvre on the well prepared track and despite the almost constant rain which was heavy at times, the riders seemed to agree that the course had held up well under the conditions and that the takeoff and landing areas of the jumps had been very well managed.
William, who had set out just before Michael, also jumped a beautiful round on last year’s winner Bay My Hero (above) who settled into a lovely rhythm and had his ears pricked around the entire course when he wasn't trying to keep the rain out of them. William wasn’t hurrying however and picked up 8.4 time penalties to finish in fourth on 46.9, just ahead of Australia’s Bill Levett on 48.6. Bill and his 11 year old bay gelding by Master Imp, Improvise had a little moment at the first water but then powered around the course to produce a double clear round although at one point the score board was heartbreakingly showing a 20 point penalty.
Clearly this was not the case and by the end of the day they had moved into fifth place from 19th after dressage. Bill and Improvise finished sixth in the 4* at Burghley last year, producing a wonderful clear show jumping on the final day – let’s hope they can do it again here tomorrow
Bill Levett and Improvise make the time
Fellow Australian rider Kate Chadderton sadly didn’t have such a good day as Bill, falling at Fence 11 while another Antipodean, New Zealand’s Emily Cammock put in a great performance to jump clear with 11.2 time penalties but sadly her lovely grey horse Dambala pulled up sore at the end of the course and has been withdrawn. Will Faudree’s Andromaque has also been withdrawn from the show jumping
Emily was one of the several riders who survived a hairy moment at the second fence, the huge Stepped Table, which certainly woke a few riders up. Britain’s Francis Whittington was one of the luckiest riders on course when his horse Easy Target demolished the apex 18C at the Land Rover Hollow. Easy Target, who also had a heart in the mouth moment at the second fence, took off way before the fence, banking it and catching a back leg between the two logs as he tried to kick off. As if on a frangible pin, the bottom log gave way destroying the fence in the process, but the crash crew soon had the fence back in one piece - amazingly it turned out that the fence didn’t have a frangible pin and Francis escaped without jumping penalties.
The look of a determined man - Boyd Martin and Master Frisky
The top 10 after cross country is filled out by American riders with Boyd Martin putting in one of the fastest times of the day, especially impressive considering that he was the last to go on his second horse Master Frisky, moving him into sixth place on the same score as Bill Levett of 48.6. Another late starter and ex-pat Aussie Phillip Dutton is in seventh place on Mighty Nice (50.4) and ninth on Fernhill Cubalawn (54.1) while Will Faudree is in eighth place riding OBOS O’Reilly (52.60)
Watch the full cross country rides of each competitor here
