The United States Eventing Association (USEA) is sad to report that Some Like It Hot collapsed and died on Saturday, July 4 at the Winona Horse Trials in Hanoverton, Ohio. Some Like It Hot was a 19-year-old Thoroughbred mare of unrecorded breeding owned by Ellie Celarek.
Tamar Lask was riding Some Like It Hot in the Starter division when the horse collapsed and died while approaching fence 9 on the cross-country course. The rider was unhurt. An investigation into Some Like It Hot’s death is ongoing and the results will be reported to the USEA’s Safety Committee as part of the USEA Cardiopulmonary Research Study.
The USEA sends its deepest condolences to all of Some Like It Hot’s connections during this difficult time.
If you are wanting to get a good parking spot at the Kentucky Horse Park this morning, you better be on your way as early as possible! Cross-country day at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event is easily the busiest day the Kentucky Horse Park sees each year, so it's time to grab your coffee and go ensure you get the viewing spot you want for both the CCI4*-S and CCI5*-L divisions today.
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.