Price falls at the final hurdle
New Zealand three-day eventer Tim Price fell at the final hurdle in his quest to win the four-star event in Kentucky, United States, on Monday (NZ time).
Price finished second on debut at Kentucky, behind reigning Olympic champion Michael Jung.
The Kiwi had a single rail down in the showjumping, dropping from first to second behind the champion German rider and his horse, Fischerrocana FST, who had moments earlier gone clear to pile the pressure on the Kiwi.
It was a costly rail for Price, with the difference between first and second being US$50,000 (NZ$66,000). Still, he’ll console himself with with $US50,000 for second.
Price and Wesko rode an otherwise top round before 23,000 spectators at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, as the first four-star event of the year came to a close.
The Cantabrian had taken the lead into the showjumping, with 36.3 penalty points. Jung was second on Sam and third on Fischerrocana FST, but when the double gold medallist from the London Olympics went clear on Fischerrocana FST, finishing on 39.3 points, it meant Price could not afford to drop a rail.
Price felt he rode a ‘‘slightly bad line’’ after the triple bar, which led to their only mistake on the course. The four-pointer meant they finished on 40.3 points, one behind Jung.
‘‘You just have to put every- thing to one side and focus,’’ said Price.
‘‘My horse is very good in a crowd and I believed that would lift him today . . . and it did.’’
Jung and Sam took two rails in the showjumping to slip from second to third individually, while the defending Kentucky champion, Britain’s William Fox-Pitt and Bay My Hero, went clear to hold on to fourth.
Price now looks forward to the Badminton Horse Trials in England next month, where he will ride Ringwood Sky Boy, and later in the season he returns to Luhmuhlen in Germany where he will be the defending champion, having claimed his first four-star victory there last year.
Meanwhile, Emily Cammock, the only other Kiwi competing at Kentucky, has had the worst possible end to the trip, after having to make the decision to euthanise her horse Dambala, who sustained significant damage to his suspensory ligament during the cross-country on Sunday.
‘‘He was the most honest, willing and trusting horse that always gave 150 per cent,’’ she said in a statement.
‘‘I feel honoured that he put his trust in me and together we made a pretty awesome team.’’