USA's Coudray Springs into Lead After Dressage at

2011 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Presented by Bridgestone

By Joanie Morris

Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

Lexington, KY - There was one new name added to the top three riders after the dressage at the 2011 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Bridgestone, but it was an important one. Tiana Coudray made the trip from California worth the effort when she wowed the judges in the Rolex Stadium with Ringwood Magister. Their score of 40.8 leaves them with a narrow margin over Mary King, from Great Britain who lies second on 41.7. Thursday's winner, Allison Springer, holds on to a top-three placing with Arthur on 42.3.

Ringwood Magister, an elegant and flashy 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse, has excellent paces and presence. Coudray coaxed him down the ramp into the Rolex Stadium and into the electric environment, managing him beautifully in the ring.

"He'd been really good in warm up," said Coudray. "And I started down the ramp so he kind of knew something was up."

Ringwood Magister misbehaved quite exuberantly on the way to the ring and found relaxing quite difficult, but Coudray is confident that once he gets in the ring, he goes to work. "When I got him down into the ring," said Coudray, "I still wasn't quite sure which way this was going to go. But he really put it together and went to work."

Ringwood Magister floats through his test, and frequently has enough suspension to get all four feet off the ground in both the trot and the canter.  His efforts mean he also leads the way in the 2011 USEF National CCI4* Eventing Championship.

"His trot work was good, maybe a tiny bit conservative," said Coudray. "The canter, once we get there I feel confident to start showing off. His changes are good. When I got to the last two loops of the canter serpentine I think I started smiling that I'd survived it."

But it wasn't until she went down the centerline for the final time that she realized just how good a test her beloved horse had pulled off.

"It's kind of overwhelming really," said Coudray, 22, about being the overnight leader. 

From Ojai, CA, Coudray began eventing in 2003 - but she has had considerable success in her short career. She was the highest placed U.S. rider at the Boekelo CCI3* last fall, finishing eighth in her first overseas CCI3*, after winning last spring in New Jersey.

King, who was just third at the Mitsubishi Motors Horse Trials last weekend, is second on Fernhill Urco, another flashy grey. He is a Portuguese-bred horse and King was very pleased with his efforts at his first CCI4*.

"I wasn't expecting quite such a good test to be honest," said veteran King.  "He's such a lovely horse. He's a friendly character, he's a real positive thinking horse...and he's got three lovely paces."

King also lies fourth on the Kings Temptress.

Thursday's winner, Allison Springer, believed that someone would go into the 30s during Friday's session, so she was very pleased to still be in the top three after the first phase. She will be first to go at 10 a.m. sharp on tomorrow's cross country. The course is designed by Derek di Grazia, who takes over after Mike Etherington Smith's tenure. Di Grazia has been battling relentless rain in Kentucky and the track will certainly take some jumping.

"It's an absolutely fantastic course," said King. "It's refreshing to come here."

ENDS

The complete order is available here: http://www.rk3de.org/timetable.php

Watch the competition live (and free) on http://www.usefnetwork.com/Rolex3Day2011/

Lexington, Ky., April 29, 2011—Tiana Coudray and Ringwood Magister earned 40.8 penalties to emerge as the top-scoring pair in dressage, the first phase of the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Bridgestone.

Mary King of Great Britain scored 41.7 on Fernhill Urco to grab second place. On Thursday King scored 47.7 on Queen’s Temptress, a score that’s placed them fourth. Allison Springer and Arthur, the Thursday leaders, dropped to third place (42.3) among the 44 starters.

This is the second start at Rolex Kentucky for Coudray, 22, of Ojai, Calif., having last ridden here in 2007. She’s developed Ringwood Magister, 10, since finding him in Ireland as a young horse.

“It’s kind of overwhelming,” she said about holding first place. “He’d been really good in warm-up, but then he heard the applause [for the previous horse], and at that point all bets were off, and he bucked  all the way down the ramp to the ring. So I wasn’t sure which way it would go, but he put it all together when he went in the ring.”

She said, though, that such a change of attitude is typical of Ringwood Magister. “He can be doing his darnedest to buck me off around the ring and then get down to work going down the centerline,” she said.

Coudray added, “I think I started smiling when I got to the [second-last movement]. That’s when it hit me that we’d had a very, very good test.”

King was pleasantly surprised by Fernhill Urco’s performance, and she largely attributed the improvement to using a new bit. “I wasn’t expecting such a good test,” she admitted. “He’s a really friendly, positive-thinking horse, but he’s always on a mission to go somewhere. So I’d been really quite struggling with the dressage. I found the test hard because he was so strong all the time.”

King, a member of the British gold-medal team at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park, said that she’s trying not to let having two top-placed horses put extra pressure on her.

“I’m always trying not to do pressure. I try to quickly think about something else,” said King, 49. “I feel fortunate to still be at this level at my age, to be lucky to just be taking part in such wonderful competitions as this.”

Coudray and King each said they’re looking forward to riding Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course on Saturday. 

“Typically at this point I’m not usually feeling so good,” said Coudray. “But I am worried a bit, because Derek’s courses almost always put you at ease and then catch you out somewhere because you’re not paying attention. I need to really treat it like it’s not looking as nice as it is.”

Coudray has ridden many of di Grazia’s courses in California, where she trains with di Grazia and his wife, Bea. But King didn’t think she’d ever ridden over a di Grazia course before.

“I think it’s an absolutely fantastic course,” said King. “I just hope the ground conditions don’t take away from how brilliant a course it is.  It’s all very jumpable, but it’s a really four-star course. I think the ground conditions are going to be the main test.”

Kentucky has set a record for rainfall in April, and di Grazia and his crew are working hard to battle the run-off that’s flowing through places on the course where it doesn’t normally flow. Saturday’s weather forecast—sunny and 74 degrees—will help dry out the ground, though.

This year, the Ariat Kentucky Reining Cup is making its debut alongside the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event and will feature the world’s best reiners, including the four members of the gold-medal team from last year’s Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event is part of the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM and features the world’s best horses and riders vying for their share of $250,000 in prize money as well as a shot at the $350,000 Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing, which is awarded to any rider who wins the Rolex Kentucky, Mitsubishi Motors Badminton and Land Rover Burghley four-star events in succession. Mark Todd of New Zealand won Badminton  on April 22-25 and is placed 17th at Rolex Kentucky on Grass Valley, 11 points behind the leader.

Further information on the 2011 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, Presented by Bridgestone, is available at the Rolex Kentucky website (www.rk3de.org). For the Ariat Kentucky Reining Cup visit www.KentuckyReining.com.

© 2011 Equestrian Events, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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