Eventing Kentucky and highlights
Oliver Townend pilots four-star debutant Cooley Master Class to his first win at Kentucky, raising the stakes for Badminton this week
Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, USA
IT’S on to Badminton and a shot at the $350,000 (£255,000) Rolex Grand Slam for Oliver Townend after an impressive come-from-behind victory at Kentucky on Cooley Master Class.
Oliver’s triumph ended Michael Jung’s winning streak with Fischer Rocana FST at the Kentucky Horse Park. The German rider’s bid to capture an unprecedented fourth title ended with a rail down in showjumping.
The win was an emotional one for Oliver. He moved up from fifth after dressage to third following cross-country and then had a clean showjumping round over Richard Jeffery’s course to take the title on his dressage score of 28.7 penalties, as well as finishing seventh with MHS King Joules.
“I’ve had a rough couple of years one way and another and it’s a hard grind at home, but this is an absolute long-term dream of mine,” he said, as he stood before an enthusiastic crowd of 21,260.
“I just want to thank every
‘I had an awful lot of faith in Cooley Master Class — it’s his first time at this level’ OLIVER TOWNEND
single person here for sharing that dream day with me.
“I’m a big dreamer. I dreamt last year that a first-timer could go to Burghley and win and the dream came true, so I’ll keep dreaming,” said Oliver, who earned the first leg toward the Rolex Grand Slam on Ballaghmor Class by triumphing at Burghley last September.
He took on Master Class at the age of four, and knows the 13-year-old gelding well.
“I had an awful lot of faith in him. It’s his first time at this level,” said Oliver.
Coming to Kentucky “took a bit of arm-twisting to get the horses here because there was no funding from Great Britain,” Oliver added.
He offered a “massive thank you” to Angela Hislop, who owns Master Class, and Tom Joule, who owns King Joules, for taking a gamble on his chances.
IDEAL CONDITIONS
MICHAEL JUNG was second in the dressage phase and was only one second over the time on cross-country, where his mare hung a hind leg on a brush jump in the water, but artfully managed to stay on her feet and keep going.
After cross-country, Michael took the lead by a very slim margin with 27.5 penalties when dressage winner Marilyn Little of the US had eight time-penalties on RF Scandalous. Second following cross-country was Australia’s Chris Burton with Nobilis 18 on his dressage score of 27.9.
Along the cross-country course, Oliver was masterful in his horsemanship, bringing both his mounts home without any penalties. That achievement was especially impressive in the case of King Joules.
“Trying to stop him is quite a problem, so I was basically run away with for 11 minutes,” said Oliver.
“But he was exceptionally honest and put himself between the flags. Basically, I spent my whole round going, ‘Whoa, whoa,’ and just steering.”
Oliver’s mounts were among 11 horses in a field of 43 crosscountry starters who were clear inside the time, surprising course designer Derek di Grazia, who had predicted only three would be
within the 11min 3sec optimum time. The ground, however, was exceptionally fast and praised by all the riders.
Oliver called the 3.91-mile cross-country track, with whimsical obstacles such as boats and carved wooden geese, “fantastic, cleverly designed”.
“Derek is exceptional at his job,” Oliver said. “You’ve got to think all the way round. I think many people could learn a lot from this man. He’s second to none in the world.”
The Kentucky event bills itself as “the best weekend all year”, and crisp temperatures combined with sunny skies lived up to that, making conditions ideal for cross-country and showjumping. The first year of the Land Rover title sponsorship, taking over from longtime backer Rolex, was an auspicious one, with more than 71,000 people attending over four days.
TROT-UP TENSION
THE final day of the event started with trouble for both Michael and Chris, whose horses were held at the last horse inspection. There were some tense moments before both were eventually passed on re-presentation.
Their problems continued into the showjumping, where the demanding track caught out both of them. When Oliver went clear with Master Class, he had to wait to see what his rivals would do before he could know his fate. Chris had two rails and Michael was too long at the triple bar, where he blamed himself for the toppled rail that dropped him to second on 31.5 penalties.
Oliver, who is fast getting on for 60 four-star starts, said he chose Kentucky for Master Class’ four-star debut “because of the good to firm ground and obviously, Badminton is likely to be a slog due to the weather in England at the moment”. As far as King Joules went, he thought the layout of the land might suit that horse better than Badminton.
King Joules’ only four-star start was at Burghley in 2016, where he retired on the crosscountry. In Kentucky, he added only a showjumping rail to make his total 35.3 penalties.
Kentucky drew 46 starters, with 32 finishing the event.
Six countries were represented among those who completed. No American has won Kentucky since 2008, with British riders taking five of the titles since then.
The best a US rider could do this time around was third, with Marilyn moving from sixth place after cross-country on to the podium after a fault-free showjumping round.
She actually specialised in showjumping before taking up eventing, and still competes in that discipline. In fact, after crosscountry, she rode Clearwater in the first $225,000 grand prix held in conjunction with the horse trials, but finished out of the ribbons.