A new champion was crowned Sunday in the Land Rover Three Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park. WUKY's Samantha Lederman has details.
The Final Day of the Kentucky Three Day Event was packed with excitement and saw the
leaderboard change fairly significantly. Overnight leaders and the winner these last three years,
Michael Jung and Fischerrocana were last to enter the arena without a single rail in hand, and
they used it up, slipping into second place. The new Kentucky Champion is British rider Oliver
Townend, who added no penalties to his dressage score on 4* first timer Cooley Master Class.
The highest placed US rider in 3rd place and so the new USEF 4* National Champion is Marilyn
Little on RF Scandalous. Unusually Little only started eventing fairly recently, and combines this
discipline with pure show-jumping.
Little was the only rider to contest both the three day event, and the Grand Prix at the Horse
Park this weekend.
It’s been ten years since an American rider won the event. Five horses were travelled over from
Europe to compete here this year and they all finished in the top 20, four of them in the top 10.
Townend won the Burghley 4* last Fall, and the Kentucky win this weekend now completes two
legs of the Rolex Grand Slam; he’ll be aiming to win Eventing’s Triple Crown next weekend on a
dihorse at Badminton in England.
