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| USA's Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville. Photo by Shannon Brinkman. |
Lexington, KY - Great Britain's Mary King was unstoppable on cross-country day at the 2011 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Bridgestone. She guided two horses around Derek di Grazia's course to claim the top two places on the leaderboard. Australia's 2007 winner, Clayton Fredericks, sits third on Be My Guest and Sinead Halpin jumped up to fourth in her first CCI4* with Manoir de Carneville, to lead the assault on the USEF National CCI4* Championship.
King cruised around on Kings Temptress, her 11-year-old homebred mare. She was one of only three double-clear rounds all day and jumped her way from fourth after the dressage, to the top of the leaderboard on a score of 47.7. With her less experienced horse, Fernhill Urco, she used all of her expertise to guide the Portuguese-bred gelding home for owners Sue and Edwin Davies in his first try at this level. Second after the dressage behind American rider Tiana Coudray, Fernhill Urco kept his position even after he picked up eight time faults. His score of 49.7 means his stablemate doesn't have a rail in hand.
"The mare was pretty fluid all the way around," said King. "I was amazed, galloping along thinking how good the ground was. The mare had a fairly fault-free round and she was quite easy with the time."
Kings Temptress is a fairly experienced horse, and set an immaculate standard as the fourth horse out on the cross-country course which was rarely duplicated thoughout the day.
Fernhill Urco impressed King with his ability to keep galloping; she said she was worried the half-bred horse might get a bit tired with the wet ground and Kentucky sunshine.
"The grey horse went a bit green at the first water," said King. "He really improved, it was a fantastic course for educating a horse - he improved as he went round. He got tired but not as tired as I had thought."
King took the long way at the third-to-last fence, which caught out several riders, and got her horse home in safely.
"I thought a few extra time penalties, rather than risk something going wrong," said King.
King indicated the she has struggled getting clear show jumping rounds out of Kings Temptress due to the shape of her jump, but the mare has improved for owner Derek Rostron Baden, and King is optimistic about both her horses.
"I'm not even thinking about tomorrow - I'm enjoying the moment," said King after her ride. "They are two very different horses...I never would have dreamt I would have been in this position when I left England to come here, so I am just enjoying the moment."
Fredericks looked stylish on the 13-year-old mare which he owns with his wife, Lucinda (who also won the event in 2009) - they made the track look easy and moved up from 10th after the dressage to third after adding 2.8 time faults. Their score of 53.0 keeps the pressure on King.
Halpin looked like a seasoned professional and earned her spot among the celebrity veterans King and Fredericks. She was part of a USEF-funded trip to Boekelo CCI3* in Holland last fall and used that experience to feel comfortable at the Kentucky Horse Park. Halpin added 4.4 time faults to her dressage score of 48.7 to finish on a two-day score of 53.1.
"He's a super horse," said Halpin of Carraig LLC's 10 year-old Selle Francais gelding. "I was lucky enough to go to Boekelo in the fall, which took a lot of the stress out of it. My goal coming here was to be happy with all three phases. My horse should be fairly competitive. He's not confirmed enough at the level to put in a winning dressage test. I wanted to be accurate and not make any mistakes."
Halpin, who now makes her home in Gladstone, NJ, wasn't overwhelmed by her first CCI4*. She felt that the track suited her unorthodox chestnut gelding, and was pleased with how he handled the terrain and the challenges.
"I walked the course and I thought it really suited my horse," said Halpin. "He's actually really rideable. He doesn't really take a hold of the bridle. He sometimes lands a bit stalled, but in the combinations out there, that was good, some of those combinations walked a bit short on the back side."
Halpin managed three strides between the two ducks in the Head of the Lake - which walked in a long two.
"I watched Mary's (first) horse and then I didn't watch anymore," said Halpin of handling her nerves. "My horse can be a little different than the average horse, so I didn't want to over-think it."
Halpin is optimistic about Sunday's show jumping, which starts at 1:00 p.m. EDT.
"My horse doesn't have a normal style over a fence, but he is careful."
Hannah Sue Burnett, who was the USEF National CCI3* Champion in 2010 and the National CCI2* Champion in 2009 with St Barths, lies fifth on a score of 53.3 after a sparkling double clear.
Overnight leader Tiana Coudray had her Rolex dreams end when she fell off Ringwood Magister at the Bridgestone combination near the end of the course after some trouble early on.
There were 18 clear cross-country rounds out of 41 starters. Difficulties were spread around the course, but DiGrazia was pleased with how the ground held up after such a deluge of rain over the past two weeks.
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/
King Holds Twice The Lead at Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, Presented by Bridgestone
Lexington, Ky., April 30, 2011— Mary King of Great Britain, an international competitor for almost 30 years, is in control of the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Bridgestone. After the day’s cross-country competition, she’s holding first place on Queen’s Temptress (47.7) and second place on Fernhill Urco (49.7).
“I can’t believe it—lying in first and second places! I’ve never been in this position before, especially not at this level, on two very different horses,” said King, 49. “I’m going to celebrate tonight, because you never know what’s around the corner.”
Clayton Fredericks of Australia, the 2007 Rolex Kentucky winner, is King’s closest pursuer, in third with 53.0 penalties on Be My Guest. Queen’s Temptress will have to lower two fences in Sunday’s show jumping for Fredericks to win his second Rolex watch.
Sinead Halpin, of Gladstone, N.J., is just a nose behind in fourth on Manoir De Carneville (53.1), followed closely by Hannah Sue Burnett of The Plains, Va., on St. Barths (53.3). William Fox-Pitt, the 2010 Rolex Kentucky winner, is sixth (54.0).
King earned her comfortable lead by guiding King’s Temptress to a completely faultless round, as the third pair on course, at 10:10 this morning. The speedy round moved the 11-year-old mare, whom King bred, into the lead from fourth place. Fernhill Urco, the third-last horse to start, at 2:50 this afternoon, jumped perfectly, but, as King had predicted, he finished 20 seconds slow—still fast enough to hold on to the second place he earned in dressage.
Be My Guest, 13, jumped beautifully and finished seven seconds slow, to vault seven places. “She’s a pretty good cross-country mare, if I can keep her quiet. She was fantastic today—I really enjoyed it,” said Fredericks, 43.
This was the first time Halpin, 29, and Manoir De Carneville, 11, have ever tackled a four-star cross-country course, and they finished 11 seconds slow. Halpin said she approached the challenge with confidence.
“I was kind of excited when I first walked the course, because I thought it would be perfect for him,” said Halpin. “I watched Mary [King] go, and then I didn’t want to watch any more. I sat in my car and tried not to think about it, but the announcing here is really good and I had to hear what was going on.”
Burnett, 24, had ridden once before at Rolex Kentucky, but this was the first four-star start for St. Barths, 11. Course officials stopped her about halfway through the course, because the rider in front of her had fallen. She was held for about five minutes and then galloped home comfortably inside the optimum time of 11:10.
“I took [the hold] as a nice break and then just picked it back up. I liked [having the break]—the first time I did [Rolex Kentucky] it was exhausting!” she said.
Of the 41 horses who started on course, 18 horses jumped faultlessly, but only three finished without time faults (Queen’s Temptress, St. Barths and Jessica Phoenix of Canada on Exponential). Exponential’s speedy trip moved the pair up from 30th to eighth. Eight horses were eliminated for falls, and three riders retired after refusals.
One of the fallers was dressage leader Tiana Coudray of Ojai, Calif. She and Ringwood Magister toppled at fence 24A, after two refusals earlier in the course. “I don’t think our fall had a lot do with that fence,” said a disappointed Coudray. “But he had a peek at the ditch and brush before it, and we got messed up. So I picked and added [a stride] to the table and got him to an impossible distance, and he couldn’t make it.”
Kristi Nunnink of Auburn, Calif., was the only rider injured today. She and R-Star fell at fence 15A, the Double Corners, and Nunnink injured her right arm. She was transported to the University of Kentucky Medical Center for further examination.
Derek di Grazia, who designed the Rolex Kentucky cross-country course for the first time, was visibly relieved at the end of the day. “I’m so glad we’re here today, because when I got here last Sunday, there was so much water on the course,” he said. “I thought to myself, ‘How are we going to pull this off?’”
The storm on Wednesday night didn’t decrease his anxiety. “I wanted to cry on Thursday morning, but it was amazing how well the ground dried out and the job the crew did.”
The riders, in turn, praised di Grazia’s course and he job his course-building crew did in the face of record rains. “The ground was amazing. If this had been a horse trial in England, it would have been cancelled days ago!” said King.
Fredericks noted that riders incurred faults at many of di Grazia’s jumps, although nine horses ran out at fence 13 B, the Hollow, the course’s most influential jump. “Hats off to Derek,” said Fredericks.
Saturday’s attendance was 29,864. On Friday, 10,962 watched dressage, while 6,817 watched dressage on Thursday.
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.
With a refusal at fence 26 today on Grass Valley, Mark Todd of New Zealand, winner last week at Badminton, lost his chance to win the Grand Slam this year.
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.
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