Michael Jung and fischerRocana
59 horse and rider combinations are ready to contest the first CCI4* of 2017 following the first horse inspection at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, presented by Land Rover
The ground jury of Christina Klingspor of Sweden (President), Nick Burton of Great Britain and David Lee of Ireland inspected the horses from the United States, Canada, England, Ireland, Germany, Australia, France, New Zealand and Mexico before a keen crowd of about 2,000 fans on Wednesday afternoon.
Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights were held for re-inspection before Colleen chose to withdraw in the holding box. Also held were Jordan Linstedt and Revitavet Capato, but they were accepted upon re-inspection.
A favourite to take home the top prize this weekend is Germany's Michael Jung and his superstar mare FischerRocana FST but among his prominent rivals for the $400,000 prize money will be former Rolex Kentucky champions Phillip Dutton, who won in 2008 on Connaught, Kim Severson, who won in 2002, 2004 and 2005 on Winsome Adante (below), Tim Price and France's Maxime Livio
This year Phillip will ride Fernhill Fugitive, I'm Sew Ready and the veteran Mr. Medicott and Severson will ride Cooley Cross Border, a young horse she has been developing. Sam Clark spoke to Phillip for An Eventful Life to find out more about his horses and what he thought of the course
New Zealand's Tim Price came close to winning in 2015 on Wesko while this year he is riding Ringwood Sky Boy and is looking forward to riding around the cross country on the horse he knows so well
Tim was narrowly beaten in 2015 by the man who could make it three in a row this year - Michael Jung who has now just one entry, FischerRocana FST, drawn to perform their dressage test just before lunch on Friday. If Michael wins again, he will be the first person to have won Rolex Kentucky for three consecutive years.
The riders will be aiming for the top prizes that will be awarded on Sunday, including the coveted Rolex watch. The total prize money is $400,000, a $50,000 increase from last year, of which $130,000 will go to the winner.
Dressage competition gets underway on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. with a special test ride by the retiring Ballynoe Castle RM and his long-time groom Kathleen Blauth-Murray then Great Britain's James Alliston riding Parker will be the first competitor into the famous Kentucky Horse Park arena.
James and Zara Tindall are the only two making the journey from the UK this year; Zara returns with High Kingdom who was withdrawn from the competition in 2015 only moments before entering the dressage when it became apparent that a cut on his leg incurred in the stable was more serious than first thought
Like Tim Price, the USA’s Lauren Keiffer will have a busy few weeks ahead, not only riding here at Rolex but with two horses also heading to the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials next week
Other riders to watch for us are Australia's Ryan Wood who has been on an upward trend for quite some time now and could pull off something special while France's Maxime Livio on Qalao Des Mers, winner of the CCI4* at Les Etoiles de Pau and runner-up at Luhmuhlen in 2016 is definitely one who could upset the apple cart.
Aside from another CCI4* win Maxime would be keen to accrue more points on the FEI Classics Series leader board which he leads on15 points (currently equal with Australian 3DE winner Hazel Shannon) ahead of Michael Jung on 12 points
