EVENTING News


Todd leads NZ Charge at Kentucky
Friday, 29 April 2016


Sir Mark Todd sits in sixth equal place at the end of the dressage phase at the Rolex Kentucky CCI4* Three Day Event in the United States, with two other Kiwis in the top 20.

Todd and NZB Campino sit on 43.2 penalty points, with leader and defending champ Michael Jung (GER) and FischerRocanna FST on 34.4. Only Allison Springer (USA) and Arthur, one of the last combinations of the day, came close to his score, and they sit in second on 39.7.

Todd said a few small mistakes had meant 6.5 marks instead of 8s, which had made the difference. Kentucky is one of the few big events that Todd has yet to win.

Blyth Tait and Xanthus III were the only Kiwis in action today, with their 54.1 penalty point effort.

Jock Paget and Clifton Promise are in 17th spot with 47.5, with Tim Price on Bango in =20th on 48.3, and Joe Meyer aboard Clip Clop on 60.6.

But it is the cross country tomorrow that will surely make big changes to the leaderboard.

Tait has described it as “a great course”.

“Each individual fence is big but fair, and cumulatively I think it will ride strong because there is just no let up,” he said.

Equestrian Sports New Zealand high performance eventing coach Erik Duvander agreed.

“The course designer (Derek di Grazia) has made the time more difficult this year with direction changes and not giving horses any recovery spaces, so it looks as though they will need to be right on their minute markers.

Todd too says it will be a real challenge out there.

“It is more twisty than last year, so that time will be difficult,” he said.


The horse details -

NZB Campino (owned by NZ Bloodstock and Sir Mark Todd), Xanthus III (owned by Jane Lovell-Smith and Blyth Tait), Bango (owned by Numero Uno Syndicate), Clip Clop (owned by Madison and Theresa Foote and Joe Meyer) and Clifton Signature (owned by Frances Stead and Russell Hall).

What: Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event
When: April 28-May 1
Where: Kentucky, United States
For more information: www.rk3de.org
For live scoring: http://startbox-real-time-scoring.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/leaderBoard.html