Chris Burton and Nobilis 18. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Of the pairs in today’s morning session of dressage here at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event, Chris Burton and Nobilis 18 had the best chance of challenging Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST‘s 27.1 leading score here
Burto came oh so close, scoring 27.9 to slot into second place with the 11-year-old Hanoverian (Nobre xx X Lilli, by Lemon xx) owned by Sue Lawson and Carolyn Townsend. That converts to 41.9 under the former FEI scoring system, which is their highest dressage score at international level since 2016.
This horse set a British dressage record of 20.1 (30.2 in former scoring) on his way to winning Burghley in 2016, but the Kentucky ground jury of Christian Landolt, Sue Baxter and Jane Hamlin have been consistently stingy in awarding big marks thus far.
EN’s data analyst and stats wizard Maggie Deatrick is once again crunching the numbers for dressage. The first morning session today was overall scored +2.35 points above the expected average scores for these horses and riders. For reference, the four sessions yesterday were +1.38, +1.93, +1.32, +2.22.
The final session of the morning got slightly tougher, with the overall average +2.58% higher than expected. Overall for the morning, the scores were +2.46% above expected, following +1.61% for the morning sessions yesterday and +1.68% yesterday afternoon. The judges are maintaining a relatively consistent toughness thus far.
Diarm Byrne of EquiRatings predicted that fischerRocana FST would be the only Thursday dressage performer still left in the top 10 at the end of today. After the morning session, we only have four horses that went yesterday still left in the top 10.
Lauren Kieffer and Vermiculus. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Lauren Kieffer and Jacqueline Mars’ Vermiculus, an 11-year-old Anglo Arabian and full brother to her first four-star partner Snooze Alarm, scored 31.2 to tie Boyd Martin and Christine Turner’s Tsetserleg for equal third place at the lunch break.
Oliver Townend and MHS King Joules. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Oliver Townend and Tom Joule’s MHS King Joules, a 13-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Ghareeb X Gowran Lady, by Cavalier Royal), scored 31.3 to round out the top five.
Tamie Smith and Ann and Kevin Baumgardner’s Wembley, a 15-year-old KWPN (Lester X E-vip, by Cantus), sat third after the first day of dressage and now sit in sixth place on 32.1.
Buck Davidson and Carlevo. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Looking to other combinations who cracked the top 10 this morning, Buck Davidson and Carlevo LLC’s Carlevo, an 11-year-old Holsteiner (Caresino X Ramatuelle, by Levernois), were first down centerline and scored 32.2 for seventh place.
Mackenna Shea and her own Landioso, a 16-year-old German Sport Horse (Legendaer I X Aspen, by Pilotek), scored 32.5 for eighth place. Click here to view all the scores and here to relive all the action from the morning in EN’s open thread.
Mackenna Shea and Landioso. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.
Looking to pairs who can still challenge fischerRocana FST’s leading score of 27.1, Marilyn Little and RF Scandalous are first down the centerline after the lunch break and are more than capable of beating that mark. Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border are also a serious threat to top the leaderboard, and Oliver Townend’s second ride Cooley Master Class is absolutely one to watch. Click here to read about the dressage powerhouses still to come.
We are dropping some serious stats on Twitter, so be sure to follow along live @eventingnation. The afternoon session of dressage starts at 1 p.m. EST and you can watch live on USEF Network. Stay tuned for much more from #LRK3DE. Go Eventing.
#LRK3DE Links: Website, Ride Times, Schedule, Live Stream, Live Scores, EN’s Coverage, EN’s Ultimate Guide, EN’s Instagram, EN’s Twitter
