Lexington, Ky., –  April 28, 2015 - With her only penalties of the event being the low score she earned in the dressage ring, Fischerrocana FST and Michael Jung of Germany won the 2015 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Land Rover. Their score of 39.3 bested Tim Price of New Zealand on Wesko (40.3) and Jung on his second mount, La Biosthetique Sam FBW (44.7).

 

Fischerrocana, 10, show jumped first of the three top-placed horses, and she put the pressure on her rivals by completing an absolutely faultless round. When Jung returned 14 horses later on Sam, 15, he lowered fences 8C and 10. Still, Price had to be perfect to claim the $100,000 winner’s prize but Wesko, the next starter, also lowered fence 10, and Price settled for second place and $44,000. Jung earned another $36,000 for third place.

This was the 35^th consecutive year that Rolex Watch USA has sponsored the Kentucky Three-Day Event, the longest corporate sponsorship in horse sports. Jung returned to Germany wearing the Rolex watch that always goes to the Event’s winner.

 

With more than 23,000 fans screaming and the difference between first and second places being $56,000, Price, 36, said he tried not to think about what was on the line as he cantered toward the start of the show jumping course designed by Richard Jeffery.

 

“You just kind of put that to one side and think of what you want to concentrate on in the ring. My horse is really good in the ring, and I think the crowd really did help me,” said Price, 36. “I came down after the triple bar [fence 9] and rode a slightly bad line to fence 10, which I think was about the same as Michael did.”
Jung, 32, said that the he felt more pressure from himself than from the atmosphere. But he thought he was too relaxed on Sam.

“I think you always have pressure on yourself whenever you compete. This is why you train at home and why you’re always thinking about how you can do better,” he said. “After my first round I was maybe a little bit more relaxed, but then I was a little bit too fast to the triple combination. Fischerrocana needs more gallop and more speed to the fences, and I didn’t concentrate enough on how to ride Sam, because he wasn’t the only horse I was riding here.”

After the completion of dressage, Jung, on Sam, and Price were tied for the lead on 36.3 penalties, with Fischerrocana in fourth (39.3). Defending champion William Fox-Pitt of Great Britain, on Bay My Hero, was third (38.5). The closeness at the top made Saturday’s cross-country phase was no less dramatic than the show jumping.

 

With thunderstorms and possible tornadoes predicted for Saturday afternoon, the ground jury (Angela Tucker, Wayne Quarles and Ernst Topp) and technical delegate Tom Ryckewaert met on Friday with Lee Carter and Vanessa Coleman of Equestrian Events Inc. to discuss schedule changes. They decided to move up the start time by 15 minutes and to shorten the interval between horses from 5 to 3 minutes, reducing the length of the competition by more than two hours. They hoped to conclude the competition before the storms struck the Lexington area.

 

The plan succeeded, although rain fell throughout much of the day. Riders said that although the ground was slippery or deep in places, the footing remained firm before and after the jumps. And at no time was the competition halted because of weather.

 

Jung began the day by guiding Fischerrocana to a faultless round. Then Price did the same with Wesko, despite being held on course because a rider ahead of him had fallen. And then, just before the end of the day, Jung galloped through the finish 1 second slow with Sam, breaking the tie he’d had with Price. He’d ridden aggressively around the course, and he couldn’t say where he’d fallen behind the optimum time of 11:06.

 

 

Jung didn’t blame the footing for falling out of the lead, though. “OK, yes, I’m a little bit sad about the 1 second, but the ground was not bad. Sam started well and jumped clear. The ground was very well prepared, and he jumped and galloped well,” he said.

Fox-Pitt and Bay My Hero, riding just before Jung and Sam, slogged home 21 seconds slow (8.4 time penalties), to drop to fourth. “I’m delighted with him,” said Fox-Pitt.

 

Price said he’d been worried about the weather since Friday afternoon. “I opened the curtains this morning and gingerly looked out,” he admitted. “It was always going to be a track of riding well and using your intuition all the way around. I just went out and trusted my horse and tried to give him a good trip between the fences. I had a great round, really.”

 

All told, 71 horses started, with 46 finishing. 30 jumped clear, with six also finishing with no time faults. 15 horses were eliminated and 10 retired.

 

“There are a lot of people that make this thing work, and on a day like this they really did make it work,” said cross-country course designer Derek di Grazia, who created a redesigned track with numerous new questions.

 

“My goal was to do something different and to give the riders new things to look at. We built quite a few new jumps and sent the horses and riders in a new way. These guys are great riders, and they went out there and did what they needed to do,” he added.

 

The happiest American rider on Saturday afternoon was Will Coleman, who was standing eighth on Obos O’Reilly. That’s because-by finishing 1 second under the optimum time with no penalties-Coleman won the Land Rover Best Ride of the Day Award. The prize is a free two-year lease on a 2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport.

 

Coleman, 32, of Gordonsville, Va., said, “This may be the only time I get to sit in the driver’s seat, because I believe my wife, Katie, will drive it the most. I’ll probably be lucky if I get to sit in it at all,” he added with a smile.

 

 

By placing fifth (54.1), Phillip Dutton and Fernhill Cubalawn won the  Rolex U.S. Equestrian Federation CCI4* Championship. It was Dutton’s fourth victory in this championship.

Dutton got there with a faultless show jumping round on Fernhill Cubalawn, passing Coleman, on Obos O’Reiily, and Boyd Martin, on Master Frisky, after they lowered rails, to finish sixth and seventh. Dutton also finished ninth on Fernhill Fugitive.

 

“Yes, I’m excited about their future,” said Dutton of his two top-10 horses. “They’re both young-ish horses. They both improved and matured this weekend.”

 

Dutton withdrew Mighty Nice, who had been standing seventh after cross-country, on Sunday morning because of a stifle injury.

 

Jung had only ridden at the Kentucky Horse Park once before, when he won the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games gold medal on Sam. He and Sam then won the Olympics two years later, but Sam suffered a slight injury prior to the 2014 World Equestrian Games in France, so he rode Fischerrocana to the individual silver medal and team gold medal there. But he said that Fischerrocana hasn’t replaced Sam as his No. 1 horse.

 

“Sam is a good friend. I think no horse is better than him. Sam is my favorite. With Sam, I win every title. He’s a very special horse,” Jung said. “But Fischerrocana is also a top horse. She will do everything great and correct. She knows the job she has to do. Every competition gets easier with her, and I think that’s really special.”

 

Price had never competed at Rolex Kentucky before, and when he and Jung were asked if they would return, Price quickly answered that he certainly would and jokingly added that Jung would not.

 

Jung smiled at Price and said the prize money he’d won would encourage him to fly to Kentucky again. He added, “The flight is very expensive, and I think we are very nearly on zero right now. But I really enjoy the competition here in Kentucky and hope to return if we can arrange it.”

 

The combined team of Germany, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland won the Dubarry Nations Team Challenge, scoring 145.6 penalties. The USA was second (250.2), with Great Britain third (1,103.7) and Canada fourth (2,131.9).

 

Sunday’s paid attendance was 23,552, bringing the weekend total to 75,533. Despite the rain-soaked day, Saturday’s attendance was 31, 856. Friday’s attendance was 13,065, and Thursday’s was 7,230.

 

“Rolex Kentucky” is one of the world’s most prestigious equestrian competitions. It is one of only six Four-Star Three-Day Events in the world and the only one in the Western Hemisphere. It is a part of the FEI Classics Series, which unites the top four-star Eventing competitions from around the world. It also gives competitors a shot at the $350,000 Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing, which is awarded to any rider who wins the Rolex Kentucky, Mitsubishi Motors Badminton and Land Rover Burghley Four-Star Events in succession.

 

Horses and Hope, a breast cancer initiative of the Office of Kentucky’s First Lady and the Kentucky Cancer Program (KCP), is the Official Charity of the 2015 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Presented by Land Rover and will be the recipient of the proceeds from the Maker’s Mark Commemorative Bottle Auction and Reception.

 

Equestrian Events, Inc. has a long history of making financial contributions to charities that support local equine interests and serve the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The mission of Horses and Hope is to work alongside the state’s equine industry to provide breast cancer awareness, education, screenings, and treatment referrals. Since the program was founded in 2008, Horses and Hope has reached nearly 1 million race track and horse show attendees, and educated nearly 16,000 equine employees. The program has screened nearly 700 workers and detected breast cancer in three individuals who have received treatment. For more information about Horses and Hope or how to donate to this very worthwhile charity, please visit www.horsesandhope.org.

 

Equestrian Events, Inc. is a non-profit charitable Kentucky corporation that was established initially to produce the 1978 World Three-Day Event Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park. Following the success of those championships, EEI established an annual event that evolved into the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event Presented by Land Rover.

 

Coverage of America’s only Four Star Event includes an NBC broadcast – the Rolex Equestrian Championships presented by Land Rover – which will air on Sunday, May 3 at 12:30 pm EDT. All four days of the competition were streamed online LIVE on USEFNetwork.com, presented by SmartPak and on www.feitv.org.

 

For more information on the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Land Rover, please visit the Rolex Kentucky website at www.RK3DE.org or call (859) 233-2362.

William Fox-Pitt (GBR) kept the cool head for which he is famous to win his third Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event in five years. Fox-Pitt, already a triple winner of the FEI Classics™, now heads the 2013/2014 leaderboard by 15 points after three out of six legs.

The runner-up, Lauren Kieffer (USA), competing in only her second CCI4*, must have made American hearts beat faster with her brilliant clear Jumping round on Veronica which left Fox-Pitt no margin for error in a nail-biting finale.

But Fox-Pitt, who has now set a new record by winning the Kentucky CCI4* on three different horses, does not give away many prizes and he had Catherine Witt’s attractive bay gelding Bay My Hero jumping on springs to produce a faultless round.

“He was superb,” said Fox-Pitt breathlessly afterwards. “Lauren really put the pressure on me so I was going in there thinking I am so pleased that even if it’s not me then it’s going to be an American because the support is so amazing over here. The atmosphere in there is crazy; he jumped so well, he was magic!”

“It took a lot of focus to go in there and stay cool,” admitted 26-year-old Kieffer, who took over the ride on the 12-year-old mare from Karen O’Connor, with whom she is based in Virginia. “I tried to go in there and ride it like anything else. I think my coach will be pleased!”

New US team trainer David O’Connor had a dream weekend as home riders dominated the top placings, with Buck Davidson rising to third place with a clear round on Ballynoe Castle RM, revealing that the horse suffered pneumonia a couple of months ago. “He has been so consistent over his career and has such a great heart,” said Davidson. “You only have to tell him it’s Kentucky and he’ll go!”

Marilyn Little was fifth and sixth on RF Smoke on the Water and RF Demeter, and Jan Byyny climbed back up the order to seventh place on Inmidair.

“The Americans are looking really strong,” said Fox-Pitt. “We’ll all really have to watch our backs at the World Equestrian Games this summer.”

Fox-Pitt claimed another top-10 finish with ninth place on Seacookie TSF, last year’s runner-up, which is also owned by Catherine Witt, and Selena O’Hanlon was best of the Canadians in 10^th place on Foxwood High.

Disappointingly for US supporters, Phillip Dutton (USA) withdrew Mr Medicott, with which he was lying third overnight, before the Jumping. Dutton did have the consolation of finishing eighth on the injured Boyd Martin’s ride Trading Aces and won a two-year lease on a Land Rover for having finished bang on the optimum Cross Country time the day before.

There were 11 clear Jumping rounds (one with a time fault) from the 37 finishers. Michael Pollard dropped from fifth to 14^th when Mensa G hit three rails, while Andrew Nicholson (NZL) had an uncharacteristically disastrous round on Avebury, incurring 25 penalties to drop to 21^st place.

Kentucky has provided an uplifting start to the 2014 international season and should whet the appetite for the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (8-11 May) which takes place in a fortnight’s time. Fox-Pitt will hoping to maintain the momentum there, when he has the choice of former Kentucky winners Cool Mountain and Parklane Hawk, plus Chilli Morning.