United States Eventing Association

Tim Price and Michael Jung Reign in the Rain on Cross-Country at Rolex Kentucky

On a chilly, rain-soaked day of cross-country riding at the Kentucky Horse Park, the international horses proved they came to play, snagging the top five spots on the leaderboard.

Kiwi rider Tim Price made the trip from his home base in England count, jumping clear and inside the time on a keen-looking Wesko – one of only six double-clear rounds all day. Tim, who was tied for first with Michael Jung after dressage (36.3), admitted that he was concerned about the forecast for today’s weather.

“Very much in the forefront of my mind was the fact that the forecast was for rain. I gingerly opened the curtains at the hotel this morning and looked out and it didn’t look like it had been raining all night, so that was a blessing for a start,” said Tim.

Kentucky has seen more rain than usual in the past several weeks, with record flooding at the horse park only a couple of weeks ago. The rain continued to fall today, which added the difficulty of wet, slick footing, especially in the afternoon as more and more horses galloped across the track.

Wesko, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood (Karandasj – Kolien), has proven that he can go on and win a four-star; last year, the pair won the CCI4* at Luhmuhlen.

And if Derek di Grazia’s stiff four-star track and the rainy, slick conditions weren’t enough of a challenge, the pair was asked to stop on course and had to wait for several minutes while a fence was repaired. In fact, they were held for so long, Tim hopped off Wesko and walked him around, but Tim believes it was actually to the horse’s advantage.

“We were held and that’s always good for the horse as long as you can get him up again,” he said. “He switches on and off easily so this was good for him.”

Germany’s Michael Jung, who was tied for first with Price going into dressage, dropped into second place with La Biosthetique - Sam FBW after crossing the finish flags just 1 second too late, adding .4 penalties to his score (36.7). However, Jung said that he wasn’t disappointed about losing the lead, especially since Sam had a light year of competition last year due to a minor injury which took the 15-year-old gelding owned by Jung’s parents off the entry list at the World Equestrian Games in Normandy.

And even if Jung was considering feeling sorry for himself, he would quickly remember that his chances for a win are still quite strong, since he also sits in third place on FischerRocana FST (39.3), who put in an enviable double-clear round.

“Today was not so easy,” 32-year-old Jung admitted. “The ground was a little bit slippery, but [Rocana] got to know the ground better as she went. I had to fight for it more than usual.”

Last year’s Rolex winners, William Fox-Pitt and Bay My Hero, dropped from 3rd to 4th after jumping clear but picking up 8.4 time penalties near the end of the day, at which point the footing had deteriorated. Australia’s William Levett and Improvise jumped from 19th to 5th after a double-clear run proving that, as always, Rolex is no dressage show.

American riders rounded out the top ten. Boyd Martin was pleased with Steve Blauner’s Master Frisky on the gelding’s first four-star attempt; the pair picked up just 1.6 time penalties to sit in 6th (48.6). In 7th: Phillip Dutton and Mighty Nice, owned by Evie Dutton, Ann Jones, Caroline Moran, Michael Bombar and Kevin Keane – 50.4. In 8th: Will Coleman and OBOS O’Reilly owned by the Four Star Group and the rider – 52.6. In 9th: Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Cubalawn owned by Thomas Tierney and Simon Roosevelt - 54.1. In 10th: Colleen Rutledge and her own Covert Rights: 54.3.

Even though the competition isn’t over, Will Coleman has already earned himself a hefty prize. He will have a 24-month lease on a 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport after winning the Land Rover Ride of the Day, which is awarded to the American rider that finishes closest to the optimum time with no jumping penalties. Click here to learn more about this award.

Tomorrow, the second horse inspection will begin at 8:30am, followed by the show jumping phase at 1 p.m.

To read our play-by-play tweets, go here.

Leaderboard
Cross-country fence results
On-demand video