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18 SIDELINES JUNE 2011 FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE E V E N T I N G

Great Britain’s Mary King Pilots Top Two at Kentucky Rolex

By Lauren R. Giannini

Drama, thrills, spills and lots of changes drove the Kentucky Rolex Three-Day Event, presented by Bridgestone, April 28-May 1. Weeks of heavy rain turned into thunder storms and tornado warnings the day of the frst horse inspection, but the weather wasn’t the only extreme element. The changes in the leader board raised the bar in terms of suspense from day one of the dressage through the show jumping fnale on Sunday.

Mary Rules with Top Two

Mary King (GBR) partnered two mounts throughout the competition with uber-cool composure, stalking the early leaders from the git-go. Mary stood second after dressage with Fernhill Urco and fourth with Kings Temptress, but it was the cross-country, designed by Derek di Grazia in his frst solo effort for Rolex Kentucky, that winnowed out the competition. Even Tiana Coudray, frst after dressage with Ringwood Magister, fell prey to the four-star questions posed by di Grazia in spite of stating at Friday’s press conference: “… I am worried a bit, because Derek’s courses almost always put you at ease and then catch you out somewhere because you’re not paying attention. I need to really treat it like it’s not looking as nice as it is.” In retrospect, a lot of riders may be thinking along the same lines, but for the riders who train and compete in the UK, it was another four-star course. After cross-country, Mary led with what proved to be a one-two knockout punch. In the fnal results, the USA placed only three riders in the top 10, including Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville (aka Tate), who spent time in England with her horse at William Fox-Pitt’s yard who made her fgure it out for herself, not by teaching her how to do it. The approach obviously worked as Sinead and Tate, bested their British gold medal mentor in their own four-star debut, thereby earning third place overall and the USEF National 4-star Championship.

For more coverage of Rolex:

www.sidelinesnews.com/blogs/laurengallops Mary King and Kings Temptress en route to double clear on the cross-

country and King’s frst ever Rolex win: note the rider’s smile

Photo by Lauren R. Giannini