United States Eventing Association

Martin Comes Close, But Jung Strengthens His Lead at Defender Kentucky CCI5*-L

Lexington, Ky.—April 26— “I really love riding the horses,” said Michael Jung. “I do it every day— riding the horses, training the horses, going to many, many competitions. I am really into the sport and with horses. I know it can go wrong all the time. So I try to go out, do my best, take care of the horse; if it went wrong, OK. It can happen, now you just be prepared for the next day.”

But it didn’t go wrong for Jung and his former Kentucky champion fischerChipmunk FRH today at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event. They delivered a classy round across Derek di Grazia’s five-star cross-country track to hold onto their lead with an impressive 11.8 penalty lead after adding just 2.4 time penalties to their dressage score.

“I am very thankful and very happy,” he shared. “I had a great day and a super ride with fischerChipmunk. He's an amazing horse. He's super to ride in the dressage— super calm, but if you go to the cross-country, he's full of energy. He has very big strides. He's very honest. I really can trust him. I still get better and better with him, but I think we had a great partnership, and that's very important for the cross-country.”

Jung noted that Klaus and Sabine Fischer, Joachim Jung, and DOKR’s 17-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Contendro I x Havanna) “Chipmunk” felt a bit tired in some places across the 6,460 meter track, which contributed to them being just a tick over the optimum time of 11 minutes and 20 seconds, but he was happy with the horse’s overall performance.

“He was really, really good galloping to the end of the course, so in the end, he was really fit to make it, and I'm very happy about today," he said.

In addition to the fact that the duo has two rails in hand going into the final phase tomorrow, they have another thing playing in their favor. Jung and Chipmunk have spent quite a bit of time together in the straight show jumping ring, including in the lead up to their trip to Kentucky, and the 2022 Kentucky champion pair historically have a pretty good chance of delivering a double-clear round on the final day. The last time they were in the bluegrass, they won this event with a clean sweep, adding nothing to their dressage score of 20.1.

“I had a bloody tiring day,” said Boyd Martin who rode three horses to clear jumping rounds in the five-star today, including the horse who he sits in second place on currently, Yankee Creek Ranch, LLC’s 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 (Connor 48 x R-Adelgunde). “Me and Tim Price [who also had three horses in the five-star] were out there every ride sort of huffing and puffing away, but I had a good, strong day.”

His trip around on “Connor” was his final ride of the day and his fastest, picking up only 6.8 time penalties to go into tomorrow on a cumulative score of 32.8.

“'Bruno' [Fedarman B, who Martin sits in seventh with] was good, I was just relieved they took his 15 penalty flag thing off, so pleased with that," he said. "And then I was probably a little bit cautious on [Luke 140, who goes into tomorrow in ninth]. I thought, ‘Come on, buddy, toughen up a bit,’ and went pretty quick on Connor. He’s a young, fit Holsteiner that gave me a great round. It was a challenging course, the ground, I thought, was a bit tiring, but I was very pleased with the day.”

While riding three around such a long course definitely takes your energy out of you, Martin noted it definitely has its advantages as well.

“You get a little bit of a feel for how the course is going. I was lucky to get through the fast way at the Head Of The Lake, so I changed my plan for my other two horses to go the long way. The ground gets a little bit more chopped up as the day goes on, and they’re three very different horses, so they’ve got a different length of stride. They’re three individuals. I think you’re very nervous on the first horse, and then after you get more tired, you stop getting nervous, so it's important to stay positive and focused as the day goes on.”

There was one rider, however, who showed di Grazia that his optimum time was doable, and that was Harry Meade who accomplished that feat on not just one, but both of his entries. He currently sits in third with Et Hop du Matz and fourth with Grafennacht.

“I always felt that [Et Hop du Matz] would be a really good cross-country horse, and I hoped he’d be a really good five-star horse,” reflected Meade. The pair attempted their first five-star last fall at the MARS Maryland 5 Star, but unfortunately were eliminated on the cross-country track there, so today was a bit of a redemption ride for the pair.

“He was great— very adjustable," he said. "He’s got a long stride, but he can shorten and adjust well. He gave me an absolute peach of a ride. The time could have been tighter, the course could have been longer, and the ground could have been softer, and he would have coped well with it. I am really happy with him.”

Meade and the 11-year-old Selle Français gelding (Nouma D’Auzay x Prima du Matz), whom he co-owns with Mandy Gray, finished on a time of 11 minutes and 18 seconds, just two seconds under the optimum time. He then repeated that same accomplishment with a newer ride to him, Grafennacht, Amanda Gould’s 13-year-old Oldenburg mare (Birkhof’s Grafenstolz x Nachtigall) who was previously campaigned by William Fox-Pitt before his retirement from upper-level eventing in their first five-star together. They finished just one second slower than Et Hop du Matz with a time of 11 minutes and 19 seconds.

As he watched the field contest his track this year, di Grazia was overall pleased with the results, especially in the fact that there were no horse or rider injuries to report.

“I'm particularly satisfied,” he said. “You never know at the beginning of the day what's going to happen. You put together a course, and you hope it's going to provide a good competition. The first thing I always am happy about is the fact that horses walked home today. Everybody walked home. We only had two rider falls in the four-star class, and we had one in the five-star class—and to me, that's a good day, obviously. Beyond that, some great rides, especially from these guys, that were really enjoyable to watch. It's always amazing. You know, you watch them go around, and you don't think they're going fast, and yet their time management is so good on the course that at the end, you look, and they're right there and where they need to be. That's very exciting.”

For a play-by-play on what problems horses and riders might have experienced across the five-star track, check out our cross-country rewind here.

The final horse inspection, which will start with the CCI4*-S competitors and conclude with the CCI5*-L contenders, will begin at 8 a.m. EST. Show jumping gets underway with the four-star at 10:45 a.m. EST with the five-star starting at 2:15 p.m. EST. Both divisions will run in reverse order of placing.

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