Let the fun and games begin! This morning kicks off the official start of competition at the 2024 Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (K3DE). The hefty four-star field is the first to set foot in the Rolex Stadium starting at 8:00 a.m. Last year we saw 49 four-star pairs in this division, but this year there are 63 pairs in the field.
Four-star competition will run from 8:00 a.m. EST to 12:18 p.m. EST on Thursday with 32 pairs on the schedule. Canadian rider Jessica Phoenix will be the first rider down the centerline this year aboard Makayla Rydzik’s 16-year-old Canadian Sport Horse mare Fluorescent Adolescent (Gaudi x Amelia II). The last of those 32 pairs will be the USA’s own Boyd Martin with the 11-year-old Holsteiner gelding Commando 3 (Connor 48 x R-Adelgunde), owned by Yankee Creek Ranch LLC. Four-star dressage will resume on Friday, April 28, and will run from 8:00 a.m. EST to 12:11 p.m. EST again with the remaining 31 pairs executing their test.
In the five-star, we will see the first 16 of the 35 pairs entered dance down the centerline. Competition gets underway at 1:30 p.m. EST with Sara Kozumpik (USA) and Edith Rameika’s 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Rock Phantom (Spirit House x Ballycroy Rose) as the first five-star pair hoping to impress judges Robert Stevenson (USA), Xavier Le Sauce (FRA), and Judy Hancock (GBR). German pair Malin Hansen-Hotop and Bodil Ipsen's 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding Carlitos Quidditch K (Quiwi Dream x Amsterdam) are the last to compete today and the remaining 19 pairs will finish out the dressage phase tomorrow starting at 1:00 p.m. EST.
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