Think you know the real Phillip Dutton? Think again. Courtney Young, of Three Days Three Ways blog, asks the acclaimed Aussie thought-provoking questions about his horses (past and present), safety issues in the sport, and how he’s managed the nearly-impossible feat of being the top USEA rider for the past eleven years (“Consistency is the name of the game.”)
Read on!
- “Woodburn is probably not the friendliest horse you’ve ever seen, he’s a bit on edge. Tru Luck is a real happy go lucky kind of guy, he enjoys life. Kheops Du Quesnay is changing: he’s mellowing out and enjoying the training, he’s pleasant around the barn. Foreman is meek and a little shy but once you’re on he’s pretty forward. Connaught is a pretty strange character and pretty opinionated about what he wants to do and what worries him, but he means well.""
- “I went to the USEA Hall of Fame dinner and they had footage of the sports in the early days. It was horrendous, some of the stuff that happened. It’s a sport where you gallop over fixed obstacles; it started out as training for military. It was not some easy sport. We’ve come such a long way in terms of safety. The sport does need to get safer, there’s no question. So we need to make some hard decisions.”
Riders in both the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S and the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L are sharing similar sentiments about this year's cross-country courses: course designer Derek di Grazia didn't play around this year. Here is what some of the riders across both divisions had to say about the tracks they will aim to conquer on Saturday.
Off The Record decided not to let Michael Jung be the only record-breaking entry at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event this week and delivered a career-best score in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S on Friday morning. He and Will Coleman delivered a test that received a score of 21.8, not only marking a personal best for the horse but also securing their position at the top of the leaderboard going into cross-country tomorrow.
Boyd Martin and the 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 were the last pair to go in the Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L field on Friday afternoon and were warmly greeted to the bluegrass with an impressive downpour that outshined anything the other horse and rider pairs had to combat throughout the day. But that didn’t stop this pair from putting their best foot forward and impressing the judges enough to earn them a score of 26.0, just 0.2 points ahead of second-place pair Tom McEwen (GBR) and Brookfield Quality.
Please always remain vigilant when it comes to sending any personal communications via email or text. Every year we receive reports of members and leaders of our sport receiving phishing attempts both online and by phone. These are often communications disguised as being sent from USEA staff or other leaders. As the years go on, the phishing attempts appear to be more directed and tailored.