Allison Springer and Arthur
As the last rider to go on the second day of dressage (no, let’s get that right - dreSSAGE - as we’re in the USA) Allison Springer had a long wait before entering the entering the arena on her 17 year old chestnut gelding Arthur.
It was probably a long wait for the American fans too, hoping that someone would knock Michael Jung from the top spot but to be honest, that just wasn’t likely today. Allison did a great job on a horse that can be difficult in this phase to finish second on a score of 39.7, narrowing the gap to Michael and fischerRocana FST, still in the lead on 34.4 while another US lady rider, Marilyn Little on RF Demeter moved into third with a score of 42.50.
Marilyn Little on RF Demeter
Marilyn is one of the few American riders to emulate Michael as not only an eventing rider but also a Grand Prix show jumper but neither she nor Allison have quite the form in the cross country phase of the Jung-Meister.
Olympic medallist Phillip Dutton certainly has the experience and is relatively close in fourth place (43.1) although his horse Fernhill Fugitive has a little less experience, this being only his second CCI4*. However Fernhill Fugitive is an Irish Sport Horse which may come in useful if the heavens open and the forecast thunderstorm ensue (think Paulank Brockagh at Badminton in 2014)
Another Irish Sport Horse, Fernhill By Night was in fourth place (43) however racing car driver Liz Halliday-Sharp has opted to withdraw ‘Blackie’ saying that “We've sadly w/drawn Blackie at Rolex - best for him as he's recently had stitches out & it’s not healed enough to risk it”
Watch out for this pair on cross country - Mark Todd and NZB Campino
That has moved some dangerous opposition into fifth place (43.2) in the shape of the Sir Todd-Meister on NZB Campino, in our mind the biggest danger tomorrow.
Tenth at Les Etoiles de Pau CCI4* last year (and would have been much higher apart from two rails in the show jumping) and fifth at Luhmuhlen, this combination added nothing in the cross country at both events and only 0.4 time penalties in their team silver-medal winning performance at London 2012. They are cross country machines when the chips are down and this is one of the few un-won prizes left for Sir Mark to tick off his bucket list
The home crowd have more to cheer about in the Dubarry Teams Challenge with Team USA on top of the leader board currently. This friendly team competition awards $20,000 in prize money, which is certainly not to be sniffed at (although the $100,000 prize money and Rolex watch for the winner is of course the pot of honey for this event), while helping national teams prepare for the team competition at the Olympic Games this summer.
The teams are selected to represent each nation based on their FEI World Ranking, the top four rankings per country qualify to represent their nation in the Team Challenge and mixed teams are allowed
The five teams competing and their current placings are;
131.0 USA:
Marilyn Little / RF Demeter
Lauren Kieffer / Veronica
Boyd Martin / Shamwari 4
Phillip Dutton / Mighty Nice
139.0 New Zealand
Mark Todd / NZB Campino
Jonathan Paget / Clifton Signature
Tim Price / Bango
Blyth Tait / Xanthus III
150.3 Canada
Jessica Phoenix / Pavarotti
Selena O’Hanlon / Foxwood High
Lisa Marie Fergusson / Honor Me
Kyle Carter / Madison Park
154.9 AUS, GER, GBR:
Michael Jung / fischerRocana FST
Panda Christie / Little Leo
Ryan Wood / Frankie
James Alliston / Parker
180.5 BRA, IRE, MEX:
Tim Bourke / Luckaun Quality
Daniela Moguel / Cecelia
Nilson Moreira da Silva / Muggle
One of Michael Jung's teammates is Australia's Ryan Wood, curently in =59th place on McLoving (pictured), 62nd on Frankie and =50th on Fernhill Classic
No doubt Australia’s Ryan Wood and Great Britain’s Panda Christie and James Alliston will dine out for a while on their stories of being on a team with Michael Jung and he may help them earn a little prize money as he seems to have his eye firmly on a win saying that
"Rolex Kentucky and the Rolex Grand Slam are very important to me. It's a very long trip to here. I'm not coming here to have a nice holiday. I come here to win”
