Monica Spencer held her dressage lead with a clear inside the time over the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event cross-country course today (25 April).
The New Zealand rider took all the direct routes and used Artist’s superb thoroughbred acceleration to power round the track and come home with one of four fault-free rounds.
Monica Spencer on her Kentucky Three-Day Event cross-country round
“He’s a champion. He tried all the way. It’s so nice to be on a good galloper, which allows me to take my time at the jumps and make sure I get it right,” said Monica Spencer after her Kentucky Three-Day Event cross-country round.
“I did all the numbers [of strides] I planned to do. It always feels like a bit more desperate than it looks in your head when you’re picturing it, but it was between all the flags.
“I try to take it one minute at a time and one fence at a time, because the thought of the whole course can be overwhelming. So I definitely feel joy as I get through each hard combination, but I never feel relaxed.
“For me, the hardest thing is doing it all at speed. Because if someone said, ‘Go out there with ‘Max’, take as long as you want and get round that course,’ I’d be like, ‘This is a nice time,’ but the pressure with the minutes is really what makes it that much harder.”
Artist is a notably polite horse – although he has thoroughbred power when Monica calls on it, it’s clear watching he doesn’t pull at all and the reins are very loose when he goes across country.
Monica said: “He’s very polite and he’s not got a lot of his own confidence. He’s very much like, ‘What next, Mum?’ which does make it even more special that he does what he does for me.
“Coming up the grades. I was like, ‘Oh, he’ll be a nice two-star horse for someone.’ He just keeps giving and keeps trying and he definitely knew it was a big one today.”
US riders in second and third
Will Coleman sits second behind Monica with a clear inside the time on the syndicate-owned five-star debutant Diabolo, who moves up from fifth after dressage.
“I think it just confirmed what I’ve thought about him all along – he’s a special, special guy. I thought he was just sensational,” said Will.
“There were places out there where I could tell he was a little bit unsure, but that just showed how genuine he was and it felt like a real partnership going around there.
“I had to push a little bit at the end, because I was a few seconds down, but I didn’t want to stretch him too much in the beginning, because he hasn’t gone this distance ever and it was warm.
“I felt good about his fitness, but I was worried I might find the end of him too soon, but when I jumped through the Normandy Bank [fence 21abc], I kind of said, ‘Come on, let’s go’ and he was there for me.”
Two time-penalties cost Caroline Pamukcu second overnight; she holds third with HSH Blake, owned by Mollie Hoff, Caroline’s mother Sherrie Martin, Caroline and her husband Deniz.
“Blake is like my best friend so it’s just great to go out and run another five-star – this is his second five-star and he’s 11 and he made it feel easy. He took me round and was perfect, even when I wasn’t,” she said.
David Doel is best of the Brits in fourth.
Vitali slides to fifth
There were four inside the 11min 5sec optimum time and 17 jumping clears from 29 starters over Derek di Grazia’s track, with five pairs eliminated or retiring.
Tim Price was second after dressage with Vitali, slipping to fifth today with 9.2 time-faults.
“He’s not blood like Monica’s horse, but he’s so clever at his fences, and it’s yet another clear round on his record,” said Tim, who was riding with a damaged shoulder after falling off a bike at an event in the Netherlands last weekend.
“He’s just such a gun – you can make a little mistake from the ride and he just sees the flags and gets through them. There were a few moments where it wasn’t a perfect jump, but he’s going through the flags and doing what I’m asking of him.
“And to be honest, he pushed his way around the course better than he has done the last couple of times. But I think in this company, plus this terrain, we’re still a wee bit off the time, but I was really happy with how he tried both in the gallop and at the fences.”
Tim’s first horse, Global Quest, was ninth following the first phase but broke a frangible at the rail into the Care Credit Question (fence 7abcd) and finished the day 17th after an educational round.
Tim said: “I think I arrived there nicely, got his head up. He’s a big horse and likes to be a bit front low, back high, but he responded to that nicely. I gave him a little bit of energy from the leg. It’s just such a steep way down. It’s notorious, isn’t it? He’s green, it’s a tough, big proper, five-star question. He looked down there, forgot his back end and took it out like a freight train.”
Will Coleman added of this fence: “The ground is so severely taking you left there, you have to set up in a way that makes it hard for the horses to understand what they’re actually supposed to do. I could see why you could have pins there, because right at the take-off, it’s a little bit of a funny line to that ditch.”
The clock cost Phillip Dutton sixth place with Possante and he moved down to 10th, while Boyd Martin held onto seventh with last year’s runner-up Commando 3 with six time-penalties.
Boyd had to circle round to the alternative when he realised a couple of strides away that he couldn’t make the direct corner out of the Defender Head of the Lake (fence 19b) with Commando 3.
Boyd’s first ride, Cooley Nutcracker, had a dicey moment at the final triple brush arrowhead out of Pete’s Hollow (fence 14c) and collected a flag penalty. With four time-faults, he dropped from 11th to 14th.
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