hey, that looks familiar
We are just over three weeks away from what Lauren deemed “The Three Day That Shall Not Be Named,” are you getting excited? While most competitors still have one last major obstacle waiting in North Carolina, the Rolex entries have closed and it’s time to take an early look at the Rolex entries.
Total entries: 69
Notes: The entries are up from the starters of the three previous years. 2007 had 44 starters (33 USA), 2008 had 42 (32 USA), and last year 50 horses started Rolex. (28 US),
Certainly, less than 69 horses will start Rolex for a variety of reasons. Injuries are most likely in the last month before three-days; I have heard estimates from top vets that as many as 30% of horses withdraw due to injury in the last month before four-stars.
Additionally, several of the horses are cross-entered at Badminton, inclusing WFP’s Cool Mountain, Woodburn, and OT’s Carousel Quest and Master Rose.
By nationality: 45 USA, 9 CAN, 5 GBR, 1 AUS, 2 IRL, 3 FRA, 2 ARG, 1 ECU, 1 NZL
Notes: 65% of 2010’s entries are US pairs, which is right on the average percentage from the three previous years: 2007 (75% US riders), 2008 (76%), 2009 (56%).
7 riders have multiple horses entered: Oliver Townend, Jose Ortelli, Boyd Martin, Phillip Dutton, Mara Dean, Buck Davidson, Amy Tryon with 20 horses between them.
Phillip Dutton has 6 horses entered: Connaught, The Foreman, Woodburn, Tru Luck, Waterfront, Kheops Du Quesnay
. No one on the planet has a stronger string of horses than that right now, although odds are not all of those horses will make it to Rolex. There’s no way Phillip will be allowed to run 6 horses, probably 4 will be the max, after all when
Ollie asked how many he could bring,
4 was the answer. Although, PD has 7 entered in The Fork this weekend and will probably look exactly as skilled riding the last on Saturday as the first.
There are 2 former 4* champion horses entered (Connaught and Carousel Quest), and 7 former 4* or individual Olympic champion riders (PD, WFP, Leslie Law, Boyd, Karen, Kim, Oliver). If I missed one because the entry list is starting to look hazy, please let me know in the comments.
This is an ongoing series, and just a beginning to the discussion, so please keep it going in the comment section.
