The leaderboard looks very different after an exciting day of cross-country at The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event Presented by MARS Equestrian (LRK3DE) at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Oliver Townend (GBR) turned in two clear rounds Saturday and sits first overnight with Ballaghmor Class and eighth with Cooley Master Class. Both horses lost a shoe on course, and persistent rain made the footing slick.
“For me this was the toughest cross-country course for a long, long time at the Five Star level. It’s right up there with the very toughest in the world,” Townend said. “Both horses had a tough enough time out there. I’m still very emotional about how amazing they both are. They’ve both literally given me their heart and soul today.”
By the time Townend left the start box with Ballaghmor Class, it had been raining heavily for some time. The horse lost a shoe at fence seven, so Townend said he tried to protect his mount around the slippery turns. Still, they crossed the finish only two seconds over the optimum time to take the lead on 27.3.
“He’s an unbelievable cross-country machine. With a shoe he could have been ten or 12 seconds inside the time without any sweat,” Townend said of the Irish gelding owned by Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop, and Val Ryan.
“I’d love to be stylish and ride the round I’d like to ride, but it wasn’t meant to be this time. It was rough and tumble and start and stop and just trying to keep him on his feet.”
Townend praised Ballaghmor Class’ “tenacity, ability, strength, and complete robustness to do the performance he did” in difficult conditions.
Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class Photos courtesy RedBayStock.com
Likewise, Townend had to work to bring Angela Hislop’s Cooley Master Class home clear with 6.4 time penalties.
“Cooley Master Class didn’t have a smooth trip at all, but every time I gave him a squeeze he stuck his head down and did what he could,” Townend said. “He lost a back shoe early on and slipped and slid. He wasn’t full of confidence and he wasn’t jumping particularly high, but at the same time he did what good horses do and dug deep and I was very happy with him.”
Townend is now in a position to take a third consecutive win in the CCI5*-L, but with the top eight all within a rail of first place, there is no margin for error in the final phase.
“We’ll celebrate what they’ve given me today and tomorrow’s another day,” Townend said
Boyd Martin (USA) is the highest placed American, sitting in second place after cross-country and leading the Land Rover/USEF Five Star-L National Championship Presented by MARS Equestrian. He and On Cue, a French mare owned by Martin and Christine, Thomas, and Tommie Turner, made it through the finish flags clear with just 0.8 time penalties to add. They head to show jumping hot on Townend’s heels with a score of 27.8.
“She’s a lovely horse. She’s got an awesome gallop and she's a good jumper. This year she’s given me a great feel in the preparation events,” Martin said.
“Riding this event for over a decade, I would say this was one of the harder cross-country courses that I have seen designed here. I watched a couple of early horses and it seemed like you had to start fast and stay as quick, nifty, and direct as you can.”
Boyd Martin and On Cue
Unfortunately, Martin fell off Long Island T and Tsetserleg TSF, both of which were placed in the top 11 after dressage. Martin said he is stiff and sore but has been checked out by the doctor and is good to go. The horses, he reported, are also okay.
“If you want to win, you’ve got to have a crack at it,” Martin said. “I’d rather fail trying to win it than just tippy-toeing around. That’s the sport and there’s no shame in going for it.”
Tim Price (NZL) and Xavier Faer round out the top three after cross-country. He posted one of only three double-clear rounds in the CCI5*-L for a two-phase score of 28.2. Price is also sitting in ninth with Bango, having added only 1.2 time penalties and moving up from 24th.
“He’s one of the few horses I could say could suit a six-star track if that existed. He still finds this [five-star] quite easy. It’s difficult because normally the fence matches the horse’s ability, if you’re maximizing their ability over a maximum fence, so the fences look after you a little bit, you know, you can ride it and the horse backs off as you’re galloping in, but he keeps on"
"So I’ve just got to manage that a little bit with him. But he was great, he listened to me” said Tim about Bango while “I leaned on the advantage of having seen quite a few [rounds] before Xavier Faer”
“You could see a lot of horses coming home quite well and recovering well so I thought there was an opportunity to go for a bit more at the beginning of the course to try and get up on the time and then just maintain it home. That’s what I set out to achieve”.
Price describes Xavier Faer, owned by himself, Trisha Rickards, and Nigella Hall, as a good “rhythm horse” who can sometimes lose focus and momentum.
“Today he set out like he was really on his job,” Price said. “It was a good, smooth round. He’s a big striding horse and can do a lot of different things with his scope and strength. I think that’s what gives us the ability to go inside the time.”
Tim Price and Xavier Faer
It was a gutsy and successful ride for Britain’s Harry Meade, coming back to competition after serious injury late last year. Harry and Superstition are now in fourth place after producing one of the only four double clear rides of the day
“It felt brilliant! He’s a game little horse. This is his first five-star. He’s not an overly big striding horse, so I just thought you know what, sometimes that makes it simpler, makes you slightly have to force the issue. The theme of the course was big, bold, attacking, jumping, plenty of really decent jumps into the water"
"He’s not had a great run-up, obviously many events were cancelled in England. I thought I’ve got to fill him with confidence and pump him up, and he got jumping really well and felt super. He grew in confidence, and went out a boy and came home a man. He was great and was up on his minutes the whole way. He’s never gone this distance and never been around something as mentally exhausting as this”
Listen to what the riders said in the press conference on Saturday (starts at about 3 minutes in)
The other three double clears came from Australia’s Kevin McNab riding Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam, now in equal sixth place with New Zealand’s Jonelle Price on Grovine de Reve, who added just just 0.4 time penalties in heavy rain.
Jonelle also had a double clear round on Classic Moet, who may not have wanted to play in the sand box during dressage but was in her element on cross country, to move from 46th to 12th place. They were originally given time penalties when held on course due to a fence being re-built but these were eventually removed
It was an impressive performance from the Antipodeans with New Zealand’s Jesse Campbell also jumping clear with Diachello, adding 9.6 time penalties for 16th place, who admits to being seriously nervous during the past few days!
“He was fantastic, he didn’t stop trying the whole way” said Jesse “He was just with me. He still kept it going, still kept jumping and I’m immensely proud of the horse, it’s been incredible. To be honest I walked the course on Wednesday and I was absolutely sh*$$*%& myself. Getting through the finish flags, it was pretty awesome"
"I’ve been pretty nervous about the whole thing, but I set to jump all the jumps, and then worry about the clock after. I was basically on my minute markers up until that sixth minute, and then he just started getting tired, so I had to spend more time setting up”
“But I’m incredibly proud of the horse. I think some things like coming out of the [Head of the Lake] is a combination you can’t really plan for – you’ve got to take what you get, and you’ve just got to ride what you’ve got. That was probably the only real one that wasn’t quite what we formulated. The plan that Tim and Jonelle sort of came up with through the discussions we had, everything else rode exactly how we planned it, so it was great. I was really happy with that”
Dom Schramm and Bolytair B are the best placed of the USA based Australian combinations in 29th place, Ema Klugman is in 31st on Bendigo and Clayton Fredericks was eliminated on FE Stormtrooper
Sadly it was the end of the competition too for William Fox-Pitt on Oratorio who were very nearly home when they fell just three fences from the end but both horse and rider are reportedly fine
Time penalties proved to be the deciding factor in the Five Star. Dressage leader Marilyn Little jumped clear with RF Scandalous but added 28.4 time faults to move well down the leaderboard. Tamie Smith and Mai Baum, who were second after dressage, activated a frangible pin on course for 11 penalties in addition to 6.0 time penalties
Tamie Smith and EnVogue Lead Lexington CCI4*-S
Following the conclusion of the Five Star, the Lexington CCI4*-S took to Derek di Grazia’s course, which by now was saturated from the rain. Out of 40 horses, 15 were eliminated on course and 14 finished without jumping penalties. No one finished under the optimum time.
Dressage leader Tamie Smith had the final ride of the day with Ruth Bley’s EnVogue. They jumped clear with 9.6 time penalties and will go to show jumping with a two-phase score of 35
It rode very tough and big,” Smith said. “EnVogue was the star. It was a blast and so fun to zip around on her. She just came out like a beast and was so quick on her feet. It was really fun.”
EnVogue was originally entered in the Five Star but Smith moved her to the Four Star for more experience at the level.
“You can never second guess your gut,” Smith said. “The slow way is always the fast way.”
Tamie Smith and En Vogue
