Sights and Sounds from Rolex Dressage Day One

Our top American after day one of dressage. Photo by Sally Spickard. Our top American after day one of dressage. Photo by Sally Spickard.

We had a chance to catch up with a few of the riders competing here at Rolex Kentucky this weekend, and the overall attitude is quiet confidence with the dreary weather forecast for Saturday in the back of their minds.

We’ll be bringing you more analysis of the cross country course in the coming days, and the general opinion of the riders is that is a very fair test for the horses. Derek di Grazia does a wonderful job of asking the horses questions that they understand while still being able to separate the cream from the crop.

Jordan Linstedt was one of the riders whom we caught up with today, and she’s very cheerful to be back in Kentucky after making her debut in 2012 with Tullibard’s Hawkwind. You may remember the very classy ride Jordan gave “Jack” around Rolex that year, coming home with 79.2 time penalties after Jordan made sure he was safe and confident throughout the course.

Now, Jordan is back with RevitaVet Capato, a 12-year-old Hanoverian gelding. Capato has been here before, as Tullibard Hawkwind’s travel buddy in 2012, but now he’s getting the chance to show everyone what he’s made of this weekend

Check out Jordan’s thoughts on the weekend — one of her goals is to go a bit faster than her last time out! — in our video interview below. Please excuse any wind interference, it’s still quite blustery here today!

It’s been a lovely day of dressage here at Kentucky Horse Park, and everyone is in high spirits. We’ll have more candid shots posted later from the dressage warm-up, which is always a great place to see the last minute preparations and pep talks, as well as the celebration after a good test.

A.P. Prime is relieved to have dressage over with. Photo by Sally Spickard.

A.P. Prime is relieved to have dressage over with. Photo by Sally Spickard.

One of the Rolex Rookies this year, Leah Lang-Gluscic, rode her first CCI4* test earlier this afternoon, and while her OTTB, A.P. Prime, was quite tense in her test she is still please with how he handled himself. “He’s happy he doesn’t have to do anymore dressage for the next few weeks!” Leah laughed.

We also caught up with Kate Chadderton, who is returning to Rolex this year with Regis Dvorsky’s Collection Pass, a 13-year-old OTTB gelding. Kate made her Rolex debut last year, but her weekend was ended prematurely when they parted ways at the Ditch and Brush on cross country. She kindly chatted with us to tell us how “Cole” is settling in and what her plan of attack is this weekend:

Bobby Meyerhoff was all smiles after his test with Dunlavin’s Token today, although we’re sure a big part of that smile was due to the fact that he didn’t lose his top hat this weekend! You may remember that Bobby’s top hat flew off in the middle of his debut Rolex dressage test last year. We’re happy to see he’s subscribed to the #mindyourmelon lifestyle this weekend.

Bobby and Danica Meyerhoff. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Bobby and Danica Meyerhoff. Photo by Sally Spickard.

Bobby and his wife, Danica, are in the process of relocating back to the East Coast after spending the last few months in California. They’ll be based in North Carolina after Rolex, but naturally they don’t mind making the pit stop in Kentucky for Bobby to go for his first Rolex completion after parting ways from “Token” late in the course in 2014.

We’ll have much more from today’s dressage, including a full press conference report, coming shortly. Stay tuned for more!

Go Rolex.