Horses, riders, and spectators come from far and wide to watch the annual Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event here in Lexington, and WUKY’s Samantha Lederman will be bringing us regular reports from the competition.
59 horses passed the First Veterinary Inspection Wednesday afternoon at the Kentucky Horse Park and will now go forward to start in the 2017 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event.
Two days of dressage kick off the competition and will determine each horse and riders’ starting penalty score. Failure to jump clear, or too slowly over the cross country and stadium fences will accrue additional penalties. At the end, the combination with the lowest score is the winner.
Phillip Dutton, US Individual Olympic Bronze Medalist at Rio last summer has three rides this weekend, as do two other riders - Buck Davidson, and Canadian Jessie Phoenix.
However, the one to beat is german rider Michael Jung who has brought back his 2015 and 2016 winner, the mare Fischerrocana and who is according to him, in great form and loves the Kentucky Horse Park. They have been beaten, in France, by Frenchman Maxime Livio on Qualao Des Mers, and they’re here this weekend looking to repeat history and spoil Jung’s attempt at a record-breaking third consecutive win. New Zealand rider Tim Price who finished 2nd to Jung in 2015 is also here looking to go one better this year.
All horses will tackle the cross country course on Saturday starting at 10am and the competition will be decided in the show-jumping phase on Sunday afternoon.
