Kentucky Lunch Update: fischerRocana FST is Leading Lady

Good girl, Queen Rocana! Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

As expected, three-time winners Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST took their rightful place at the top of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event leaderboard as the final pair before the lunch break on the first day of dressage.

While they currently sit in first place, Michael and Rocana’s score of 27.1 (which translates to 40.7 under former FEI scoring) is their highest at the CCI4* level since 2014 and well off the pace of their personal best of 22.7 (34.1 under former scoring). In short, it’s beatable.

With the dressage coefficient removed, we are looking for horses that can score in the low 20s to challenge for the lead after the first phase. “Roxie,” a 13-year-old German Sport Horse (Ituango xx X Rose II, by Carismo) owned by Brigitte and Joachim Jung, is the only horse to score in the 20s so far, but we still have plenty of dressage action to come.

Boyd Martin and Tsetserleg. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

Looking to the rest of the morning’s tests, Boyd Martin and Christine Turner’s Tsetserleg (Windfall X Thabana, by Buddenbrock) sit in second place on 31.2 in the 11-year-old Trakehner’s debut at the level.

Tamie Smith is back at Kentucky for the first time since 2009 and currently sits third with Kevin Baumgardner’s Wembley, a 15-year-old KWPN (Lester X E-vip, by Cantus), on 32.1 in the horse’s first CCI4*.

Tamie Smith and Wembley. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

Caroline Martin made her CCI4* debut here last year with her own and Sherrie Martin’s Spring Easy, a 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Garrison Royal X Castlegrogan Clare, by Ballinvella). She has “Paddy” back at Kentucky and improved on their test from last year with a score of 33.3 for fourth place.

Phillip Dutton and Z, a 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding (Asca X Bellabouche, by Babouche VH Gehucht Z) owned by the Z Partnership, round out the top five at the lunch break on 33.7 in the horse’s CCI4* debut.

Phillip Dutton and Z. Photo by Leslie Threlkeld.

EN’s data analyst Maggie Deatrick is crunching the numbers throughout dressage, so be sure to follow her analysis on Twitter.

The pairs in the first session scored +1.38 points above their expected group average. Sue Baxter was the highest scoring judge for 50% of the riders, while Jane Hamlin gave the lowest marks for four of the six pairs. The second morning session scored +1.93 above their group expected average, with an overall +1.61 points for the morning.

The judges have an average disagreement of 3.05 percentage points per pair so far. They disagreed most on Tamie Smith and Wembley, who received 72.76 from Jane Hamlin and 65.34/65.69 from Sue Baxter and Christian Landolt.

The afternoon group is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., with Ellie MacPhail O’Neal and RF Eloquence leading off. Looking to pairs who can challenge for the lead at the conclusion of the first day, Sharon White and Cooley On Show have scored in the 20s in both of their international starts this season. Click here to view ride times and here to read about the best dressage combinations of day one.

Remember you can watch all the action live on on USEF Network with a free fan membership; click here for details on how to sign up. Follow along with all of EN’s coverage in our Ultimate Guide to the event. Stay tuned for much more from #LRK3DE. Go Eventing.

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