SmartPak Power Ranking and Rolex Preview

 

The start of Rolex Kentucky has finally arrived! If you have been following Eventing Nation for any number of months, you have noticed the edition of the SmartPak Power Ranking at the beginning of 2012. The purpose of the series is to follow and rank the top horses and riders in their preparations for Rolex, and ultimately the Olympics. While we usually have been posting the SmartPak Power Ranking during the second or third week of every month, we thought it best to wait on this month’s Ranking because without the results of Rolex to add into the equation, it really wouldn’t be much of a ranking at all!

The series left off last month after Red Hills, where Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos kept a convincing lead over stablemates Phillip Dutton and Mystery Whisper. Neville Bardos is a proven competitor, especially where the Kentucky Horse Park is concerned after great performances at Rolex and at the World Equestrian Games in 2010, so Boyd has very rightly so given his old campaigner a quiet spring preparation and has come away with good results.

Mystery Whisper started the season off quite well, but showed some room for refinement in the dressage phase.  Phillip really showed everyone the marked improvement at his last couple events at Red Hills and the Fork, where this pair has gone from strength to strength across all three phases. This pair is also sitting out Kentucky and we will likely see them next at Jersey.

Sinead Halpin and Manoir de Carneville sat in third place in the March ranking, but I think if we had done the poll for April already, they would probably be sitting in the exact same position (or a better one) as their spring prep has been nothing short of right on target. Sinead impressed a lot of people at Rolex last year, and continued to do so at Burghley, and with the way she has started 2012, I think she’ll come back to be even better this year.  Sinead and Tate make it 3 for 3 of our top SmartPak power ranking pairs sitting out Kentucky as they don’t have anything to prove.

Clark Montgomery sat in fourth in the March ranking, and it will be interesting to see where he lands after this week. This will be his horse’s four star debut, but after a great year last year with a solid performance at the Blenheim Three-Day Event in England, this pair will ready as any to take on America’s toughest course.

Becky always performs well at Rolex and it will sure be nice to see her back this year (with two mounts nevertheless!) after missing Kentucky last year. Although he’s on a comeback from an injury, Courageous Comet knows Rolex better than any of the other horses entered, and he also knows when it’s time to put on a show. He and Becky had an inspiring cross country  trip at the WEG two years ago, so I wouldn’t count him out to comeback this year better than ever. Comet’s stablemate, Can’t Fire Me, has had a very good preparation over the last year and I’d expect him to put in a very solid performance this weekend as well.

Ballynoecastle RM sat in 7th place in the March ranking, which may shift a little bit now seeing as he will not be making the trip to Kentucky this year. His rider will be, however, with Pan Am Games Silver Medalist Absolute Liberty and Titanium.

Karen O’Connor and Marilyn Little-Meredith will have four mounts between them this weekend. Karen will be riding Mr. Medicott and Veronica and Marilyn has Rovano Rex and Demeter. All four have been going well, so I’d expect them to do the same this weekend. Hopefully come next Monday Marilyn will be able to say she has ridden successfully at the highest level in two disciplines.

For Canada this year, it’s all about the women as Jessica Phoenix, Rebecca Howard, and Hawley Bennett have maintained the first three positions in the Canadian section of the SmartPak Power Ranking for the past two months. They are all exceptional riders with seasoned mounts, but none of them will be at Kentucky this weekend. Coach David O’Connor has obviously planned a less strenuous route for their seasoned horses this Spring, with an eye on saving them for the summer Games.

So with all that previewing out of the way, I have to ask who are your favorites for this weekend? Do you think the April ranking will emerge much like the March one or do you think there will be some upset performances? I guess at the end of the day, you can predict, analyze, and theorize as much as you like, but horses will be horses and things never seem to go quite how we think they will, for the better or the worse. But that,after all, is the fun part. Bring it on Kentucky!

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