“It sounds a bit daft but at 15 years old she is still improving – hopefully she’s like a really nice bottle of red wine and keeps maturing with age,” said Kirsty of Classic VI, who belongs to her father John Johnston, Carole Somers and Kate Ward.
After warming up well, the mare hesitated and tried to back up as Kirsty rode down the ramp into the imposing stadium. Nonetheless, their early trot work was trending around 70% and they scored a nine, from Xavier Le Sauce at M, for their mid-test halt. An unbalanced moment after the first flying change and a blip on the final centreline pulled their marks down a little and they finished on a score of 31.
Talking about whether the mare carried the moment in the chute into the arena, Kirsty said: “I guess it must spike a bit of adrenalin to some degree, mustn’t it? She actually settled really well, so I’m chuffed with her. With hindsight, I probably should have walked in.
“She was super out here in the warm-up and then just got a little hotter as we went down, but she held it together. There were two clear mistakes but the rest of the test I was pleased with.”
Talking about the mare generally, Kirsty added: “She’s absolutely beautiful. She likes her people. She’s a typical girl. She likes to trust everybody and she is a darling. She is something special.”
On their best form, Kirsty and Classic can be very competitive at five-star – they were second at Luhmühlen Horse Trials in 2022 and sixth at Pau Horse Trials last year. They came to Kentucky last year and completed with 20 jumping penalties across country.
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The pair were third on their prep run at Kronenberg CCI4*-S in March.
“We’ve had a great prep and come here full of confidence,” said Kirsty during the Kentucky Three-Day Event dressage press conference. “But I’ve got Yas to my left and I hope she’s there on Saturday. I’ve got my own goals I’d like to achieve and hopefully the end of the week will take care of itself.”
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
