Dressage paves the way at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event

The real excitement will have to wait for Saturday’s cross-country test, but the action got under way today at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day event with the first half of the dressage. For many riders (although less than in the past) this is a segment to be gotten through, the vegetables before the sweet intensity of Derek di Grazia’s 28-obstacle course at the Kentucky Horse Park.

That is really why they come to the Western Hemisphere’s only 5-star event. The dressage today and tomorrow and Sunday’s stadium jumping finale are the bookends of this competition’s highlight, horse and rider going at speed over such spectacular challenges as the Frog Pond, the Bourbon Houses, the Cedar Lodge and of course, the Rolex Head of the Lake.

The standings after dressage usually undergo massive alteration following cross-country, but the first phase does give an inkling of who might be in contention.

Today, it was Felix Vogg of Switzerland, who topped the standings with a 28-penalty test, executed with a silken smooth sophistication on Colero. Although the atmosphere in the arena was more subdued than it will be Friday, a crowd of 5,466 was still good for a Thursday. And Colero, an 11-year-old Westphalian, wasn’t the least bit intimidated.

“We tried something new,” said Felix.

“I didn’t warm him up too long, and it worked out quite well. He’s the kind of horse that just doesn’t take his atmosphere too seriously. He always puts in a good test and if I ride well, he does what I want.”

Felix came as a spectator last year and always heard nice things about the event from his friend, three-time Kentucky winner Michael Jung of Germany.

This is the last hurrah in the U.S. for Felix, who heads back to Europe next month to try for the European championships and wants to work closely with the Swiss team.

Liz Halliday-Sharp, the hot rider of the 2019 season so far, was second for the USA with 30.9 penalties on DeNiro Z, whose dressage is a work in progress that is shaping up nicely.

“It’s his second five star and his first time at Kentucky,” said Liz, noting her 11-year-old Dutchbred did Luhmuhlen in Germany, where the course is wooded and twisty, unlike the route in Kentucky.

“It’s never easy being third to go, and I really felt he gave me everything he had. I was a little disappointed with the score–I’m not going to lie,” she said.

“He does struggle with his (flying) changes and he did today, but I’m thrilled with the horse. He gave me everything and pushed hard and did phenomenal trot work.”

Buck Davidson, a Kentucky regular, stands third on the 17-year-old Park Trader, owned by Cassie and Carl Segal of Pottersvile, N.J. His score of 32.1 penalties has him nicely situated at the moment, though defending champion Oliver Townend of Great Britain will go tomorrow with Cooley Master Class, and such top contenders as Philip Dutton and Boyd Martin are set to compete in the afternoon.

“Park Trader isn’t fantastic at this phase, but he is maturing and getting better, finally, at the age of 17,” Buck observed.

“He did as well as he could possibly do, he did all the flying changes as well as he could do them. He did everything as well as he knows how.”

After the competition, we got a tour of the course from Derek, who is also designing the route for the Tokyo Olympics next year. It’s a thinking rider’s course, with lots of quick decision to be made about possible alternatives when things go awry.

The Rolex Head of the Lake, the Horse Park’s iconic water complex, has been completely redesigned, with a bunch of new fences, a nice drop into the drink and a bounce over a handsome brush jump after a bank on the way out.

“You’ll see a lot of horses go through here and make it look easy,” said Derek.

“There will also be some others that, if they’re not quite as organized, it won’t be so pretty. The good thing is there’s brush here, and brush is pretty safe.”

“There are choices you have to make as to the striding you want to do. Depending on how you jump in over the first will determine what happens over the second or the third . That’s where the riders, especially at this level, will react and know what to do when that happens.

“They have plan A if the horse jumps in like they want, then they just keep going and do what they want. If something else happens, they know what the options are as well. The riders that really walk their courses and feel their horses, what’s going on on the day, they’re going to know how to adjust.”

We can’t wait to see what they do, but as I’ve said, there’s more dressage first. Check back tomorrow night for a report on Friday’s happenings.