SUNDAY MORNING
VETERINARIAN INSPECTION
At
the Sunday morning Veterinarian Inspection:
Ralph Holstein's Arctic Dancer
was held and not passed upon re-inspection. Nicolas
Touzaint's Hidalgo de L'Ile and Jan Byyny's Syd Kent were held  and
both passed on re-inspection. Thirty-six
horse and rider combinations were eligible to Show Jump on Sunday afternoon at
1:00 PM.
Sunday Afternoon Show Jumping
The pressure was really
on Australia's Lucinda Fredericks when she and Headley Britannia entered
the Show Jumping arena. The six horses that preceed her had jumped double
clears. (Might this be telling us something about the difficulty of the course
or lack thereof?)
Lucinda actually did have one rail in hand to remain
in first place. Little Brit did not need it. She jumped like the champion she
is - she has previously won both Badminton, in 2007, and Burghley, in 2006,
to add Rolex Kentucky to her list of t riumphs.
(Lucinda and Headley Britannia ar pictured at the right above in the Show
Jumping and at the right below during their Victory Gallop.) Headley
Britannia is truly one of the GREAT event horses of all time!
Rolex
presents the Rolex Challenge to any rider who can win the Badminton,
Burghley and Rolex Kentucky CCI****'s in a row. This requires
that the rider have at least two horses competant at the four star level as Badminton
follows Rolex by two weeks. One horse cannot run in two four star competitions
so close together.
Surely there should be a special prize for any
horse who can win all three  four
stars at any time. This has been done only once in the past by
Primmore's Pride ridden by Pippa Funnell (GBR). This pair won the Rolex Kentucky
and Land Rover Burghley CCI****'s in 2003 and won the Mitsubishi Motors
Badminton CCI**** in 2005. (Pippa and Primmore's Pride are
pictured at the right at Badminton the year the pair
won .)
Lucinda
said of Headley Brittania, "She's going to a lot of people's hearts and she's
certainly gone to ours!"
Bettina Hoy and Ringwood Cockatoo had a lovely
double clear to remain in second place. Having won the Dressage by a country mile,
she had 9 time faults  on
Cross country which cost her and her marvelous grey the championship. (Lucinda
and Ringwood Cockatoo are pictured at the left above.)
Buck and My
Boy Bobby rose to the occasion on Sunday with a double clear Show Jumping round
to hold on to third place. (Buck and My Boy Bobby are pictured at the left.)
The
Final Top Ten After Show Jumping:
1.
Lucinda Fredericks (AUS), Headley
Britannia - 32.3 (DCSJ)
2.
Bettina Hoy (GER), Ringwood Cockatoo - 38.4 (DCSJ)
3. Buck Davidson,
My Boy Bobby - 40.2 (DCSJ)
4. Nicolas Touzaint (FRA), Hidalgo de
L'Ile - 44.3 (DCSJ)
5. Lucy Wiegersma (GBR), Woodfalls Inigo Jones -
44.4 (DCSJ)
6. William Fox-Pitt (GBR), Seacookie - 45.9 (DCSJ)
7.
Phillip Dutton, Connaught - 47.0 (DCSJ)
8. Oliver Townend (GBR),
Carousel Quest - 49.2 (4 faults SJ)
9. Tim Lips (NED), Concrex Oncarlos
- 50.0 (8 faults SJ)
10. Stephen Bradley, Brandenburg's Joshua - 52.6
(4 faults SJ)
Shown
above l. to r.are Nicolas Touzaint (FRA) and Hidalgo de L'Ile, in fourth place;
Lucy Wiegersma (GBR) and Woodfalls Inigo Jones, in fifth place; and William Fox-Pitt
(GBR) and Seacookie, in sixth place. *
* * Fredericks
Tops 2009 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event; Davidson Wins Rolex/USEF National CCI****
Championship
By Joanie Morris
Lexington, KY
– It was tight at the top of the leaderboard at the 2009 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day
Event but the first three places remained unchanged, as Lucinda Fredericks, Bettina
Hoy and Buck Davidson each jumped immaculate clear show jumping rounds.
Fredericks, who took over the lead from Hoy after the cross country, had
all kinds of horse left in the brand new main arena at the Kentucky Horse Park
and Headley Britannia bounded around Richard Jeffrey’s track, giving the
pair their third CCI**** win in two years. “It would have
been a lot easier to nip down the road to Badminton,” said Fredericks. “It
took a lot of effort, organization and understanding to get her here but I really
look forward to coming back.” The Australian rider and the
16-year-old Thoroughbred cross mare she owns with her husband Clayton, motored
around the cross country course yesterday, and completed the event as one of only
three to finish on their dressage score of 32.3. They took home $80,000 for their
effort and Headley Brittania was the first mare to ever win this CCI****.
“She’s a little household name now,” said Fredericks about
her beloved mare. “She’s taken everyone’s heart.”
Fredericks duplicated her husband’s effort (and now has her own Rolex
watch to match): in 2007 Clayton won this event with Ben Along Time. “After
I jumped the first cross pole I turned around to Clayton and said, ‘she just
feels great,’” said Fredericks. Ringwood Cockatoo didn’t
look much of his 18 years in the Show Jumping today, but Hoy got very lucky at
the third fence. The troublesome plank withstood several rubs, and it hung on
for Hoy as it had for many others. The Irish Sport Horse gelding is one of the
most experienced horses and Hoy used every ounce of her expertise and luck to
get a clear round out of him. “I couldn’t have been any
prouder of my horse all weekend,” said Hoy, who had to run to catch a plane
straight after the prize giving. “He was a true champion all weekend.”
The combination finished on 38.4, after picking up time faults on yesterday’s
cross country course. But behind two previous four-star winners,
was an American horse for the future. Carl and Cassandra Segal’s
My Boy Bobby jumped a foot perfect round at his first CCI**** to finish on a score
of 40.2. The13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding is dependably a phenomenal jumper
and Davidson was confident in his horse’s ability to produce a clear round
today. ‘Bobby’ delivered, jumping beautifully for the Ocala, FL based
rider. Previously, Davidson’s top finish here was fourth in 2003, when he
also won the Rolex/USEF National CCI**** Championship behind three foreign riders.
“I couldn’t be more thankful to have these horses,”
said Davidson. “They both jumped fantastically. I had a good feeling today,
and these horses are so good.” Davidson was also 15th with
another horse for the Segal’s: BallyNoe Castle RM. Davidson was the only
rider to jump two clear show jumping rounds. “Certainly when
I walked the course it looked a bit easier than in years past,” said Davidson.
“But maybe that’s because I’m on better jumpers than I have been
in the past.” Last year’s winner, Phillip Dutton and
Connaught, was second in the Rolex/USEF National Championship finishing seventh
overall. Six nations were represented in the top 10, giving a preview to next
year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The top nine horses
show jumped clear, which made for 18 clear rounds. For a complete
list of the rest of the awards and results, please visit www.rk3de.org.
This win means that Fredericks is now the only rider live in the Rolex
Grand Slam, which offers $350,000 to any rider who can win the three most prestigious
CCI**** events in the world (Badminton, Burghley and Rolex Kentucky) in any order
in succession. British rider Pippa Funnell won the Rolex Grand Slam in 2003 –
a feat yet to be duplicated. Fredericks does not have a horse entered Badminton,
but Clayton will ride The Frog next week. For the first year ever,
the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event is part of the HSBC Classics Series. This series
features $150,000 in prize money to the rider who accumulates the most points
at the five global CCI****s. The series begins in Lexington and finishes in Pau,
France in October. For more information, please visit: http://www.fei.org/Disciplines/Eventing/Pages/HSBCFEIClassics.aspx.
Please contact Joanie Morris at jmorris@usef.org with questions.
The vision of the United States Equestrian Federation® is
to provide leadership for equestrian sport in the United States of America by
promoting the pursuit of excellence from the grassroots to the Olympic Games,
based on a foundation of fair, safe competition and the welfare of its human and
equine athletes.
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