Piggy French Steals the Lead on Dressage Day Two at the Kentucky Three-Day Event

Apr 26, 2019

Piggy French Steals the Lead on Dressage Day Two at the Kentucky Three-Day Event

By Kate Lokey - USEA Staff

Piggy French and Quarrycrest Echo. USEA/Leslie Mintz Photo.

Great Britain’s Piggy French stormed down the center line and demanded the attention from the judges on the second day of dressage. French stole the morning at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event with a 27.1 to take the lead from Felix Vogg, who now sits in second on a 28.0.

French was second to go in the arena aboard Jayne McGivern’s 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse, Quarrycrest Echo (Clover Echo x Royal China). The pair were on the gold medal-winning British team at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games, and they finished 10^th place individually, but today’s wind and weather conditions had French a bit on edge.

“I got up here 20 minutes before our test, and to be honest he felt quite cold and stiff, like it suddenly got cold, hasn’t it? explained French. “He started spooking, which he hasn’t done all week, and it’s windy in there, and the breeze gets you, so it just felt a bit stormy. I’m relieved there were no big mistakes in his test, and I’m delighted with him from how he was in the warmup to go in there and be a professional and do his job. I was really relieved to be honest!”

French said that it was the owner, Jayne McGivern who made the decision to bring “Red” to Kentucky, and she was thrilled to go along with it. “This is a fantastic venue, and everyone’s so friendly when we’re here, so it’s cool. He’s a laid-back horse that copes with travel pretty well usually, so hopefully he does again this year. I’m just extremely grateful for Jayne. It’s as great for her as it is for me.”

There are still 12 horses yet to come this afternoon in front of dressage judges Christina Klingspor (SWE), Martin Plewa (GER) and Mark Weissbecker (USA). Last year’s LRK3DE Champions Oliver Townend and Cooley Master Class enter the arena at 1:32 p.m. (ET) which could perhaps rattle the leaderboard once again.

The USEA put together a full roster with fun facts about each horse and rider pair competing at the 2019 Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, so download the roster here. For useful links and statistics, read the USEA Fast Facts for LRK3DE.

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