Doug Payne and Crown Talisman at Rolex. Photo by Jenni Autry.
So I’m officially calling it — we’re seeing some tough scoring today. I noticed it on a few tests early today — namely Kyle Carter and Madison Park and Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville — and we’re still seeing lower-than-expected marks in this third group, mostly notably for Doug Payne and Crown Talisman and Allie Knowles and Last Call. Doug’s test had a few tense moments in the very beginning, but Tali really settled and focused beautifully for that wow performance I’ve been waiting to see all day. They scored 51.2 for third place provisionally, and while that’s a very respectable score for the horse’s first four-star test, it was probably good enough to crack the 40s. It’s possible the judges really nailed him for that tension in the very beginning, but the rest of the test was very impressive.
Allie Knowles and Last Call. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Allie Knowles and Last Call, who were in fourth place after dressage on a score of 43.3 at Rolex last year, also had a lovely test that scored worse than I expected — just 54.3. Fergie is a lovely mover and Allie a very accurate rider, and while they had some tiny bobbles in the final two changes, those blips weren’t any different than what we saw from Michael Pollard and Mensa. Meghan O’Donoghue and Pirate also had a much worse score than last year with 61.8. This horse is never going to be a fantastic mover, but the test was still obedient and workmanlike, and while not flawless, I expected a better score. And not to be a broken record, but I thought Hawley Bennett-Awad and Gin & Juice had a very nice test, and while Ginny got a bit wound up during the changes toward the end, it probably deserved a better score than 58.7.
Hawley Bennett-Awad and Gin & Juice. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Is the judging indeed too harsh, or is this a wake up call that we’re just not up to par with international dressage standards at this level? That’s a bigger question than I have time to answer right now with Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz leading off the fourth and final group in just a couple minutes, but it’s definitely something to keep in mind as we continue throughout the weekend here at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. Be sure to follow along with John’s open thread here and hop on the live blog, where John, AJ and Leslie are providing commentary. And you never know who will swing by here at Rolex to offer their own analysis, so you don’t want to miss it. Stay tuned for much more.
