In only her second Rolex Kentucky, Kristin Bachman galloped around in perfect form to take over the lead with a double clear round aboard Gryffindor on April 28.

“My horse was fabulous,” said Bachman of her off-the-track Thoroughbred.  “He came out looking for where I wanted to go and stayed with me the whole way around.  I couldn’t have asked him to be better.”

Overnight leader, Amy Tryon, rode a clear round with Le Samurai, but the tired Thoroughbred-Holsteiner gelding tripped before the last fence and injured his left front leg, pulling up lame.

“It appeared that he lost the supporting ligaments to the fetlock of his left front,” said Catherine Kohn, DMV, the Veterinary Delegate.  “We immediately put him in a splint and gave him a mild sedative to ride in the trailer to Hagyard-Davidson-McGee Equine Medical Institute.” 

He has no broken bones, but he has lost the ligaments supporting his fetlock.  He’s in a cast and resting comfortably according to Kohn.

Heidi White Carty is less than a rail behind Bachman in second place with Northern Spy.  Carty, the third-to-last rider, was having a spectacular round, but she was held at fence 21, the Basket of Flowers, the last fence before the Head of the Lake, when Australia’s Heath Ryan and Flame parted company at The Dray.

“It’s probably the first time in my life I’ve ever been held, and it would have been nice to do somewhere else,” Carty said.  “I asked if I could get a little water on him, and the stewards were phenomenal.  I knew I had to stay focused, and I took time to come up with another plan.”

Carty and the indomitable Northern Spy didn’t let the hold slow them down.  They jumped beautifully into the Head of the Lake and continued to finish fast and clean.

Australia’s Clayton Fredericks lies just 1 point behind Carty with Ben Along Time (53.0).  The pair had a somewhat hairy round, slipping badly after 19B, the corner in The Brushes.  Fredericks tried hard to make the time, but with another sticky ride through the Head of the Lake, it just wasn’t going to happen. 

“Sometimes you take some extra half-halts, and every one you take, looking after your horse, is an extra second,” he said.  “There were probably 26 half-halts I didn’t need to take, but I like to give him nice jumps, and I’d rather have him home safe.” 

His wife Lucinda, last year’s Burghley (England) winner, was on the phone to him immediately after his ride.  She saw the NBC webcast and agreed that there were too many half-halts.
Will Faudree piloted the 18-year-old Antigua to the fastest round of the day and now lies in fourth place going into show jumping ahead of Belgium’s Karin Donckers and Gazelle de la Brasserie.

Phillip Dutton had two great rides, as usual, with Truluck and Connaught.  A double clear put Truluck in sixth place over Connaught, who incurred 8.4 time penalties.

“I’m pretty proud of this horse,” he said of Connaught.  “I think I pushed him a little bit too much early in his career.  I had him at this level before he was actually ready, but he’s a real trier of a horse.”

Just Call Him Superpony
Surprises ruled the day at Kentucky as the earlier, less-experienced horses seemed to do far better than the afternoon rides.  Karen O’Connor was the pathfinder of the day with the bionic pony, Theodore O’Connor.  “Teddy” skipped around the course with no trouble and showed the big horses how it was done with only 4.4 time penalties.

“I wasn’t worried about the combinations, because he’s nimble and sure-footed,” said O’Connor.  “It was whether over the distance he had the height and stamina to get the width.  I was delighted with how scopey he was the whole time, and it was easily within his ability to get the width.

His stablemate, Upstage,  was the second-to-last horse on course and didn’t do quite as well.  He, too, was held when Ryan fell and had a stop at 18C, the corner in the Hollow.

“He’s never been held before and it got him really wound up,” said O’Connor.  “I had very little communication when we started up again, and it caught up with me in the [Hollow].  I went to take a pull, and he actually accelerated.  He never saw the corner and ran into it.  I’m disappointed with my effort there.”

This is “Woody’s” sixth consecutive Rolex Kentucky run.  “I’ll come back with a vengeance next year,” promised O’Connor.

Corners, Corners Everywhere
Corners defeated many other horses on course.  Jane Sleeper had the first of two run-outs at the second of the two Sycamore Corners, 5B.  This corner also got Courageous Comet and Becky Holder.  When they had a second stop at 9B, the squirrel tail of Uncle Frani’s Birch, Holder opted to retire and save her horse for another day.

Bruce Davidson had a nasty tumble off of Jam over 19B, The Brushes corner.  He too called it a day at that point.

Bonnie Mosser appeared to be having a super ride on Jenga until a fall at the first of the Ducks On Bank took her out of the running for a top spot.  Great Britain’s Polly Stockton, who stood in second after dressage with Tangleman, had an unfortunate run-out at the Triple Brush after the Normandy Bank.  Tangleman had been fighting for his head throughout the ride and finally got away from her at the narrow brush.

Ryan wasn’t the only rider to take a tumble at the Dray.  Ashley MacVaugh also fell when All’s Fair hit the big table hard, but she jumped up and was able to finish.

Young rider Emilee Libby picked up 20 penalties at 7A, the Poplar Roll, but quickly went around the long way and completed her first four-star with no other problems.

Julia Steinberg was enjoying her first four-star, bar a run-out at the final element of the first water complex. She then had a steering error at the Lighthouse in the Head of the Lake with Mr. Big.  She ran around and did the long way over the B element, but neglected to jump C and was eliminated.

Tara Ziegler won the best save of the day, crawling back into the tack after her horse, Buckingham Place, dislodged her over the Footbridge.  She finished with a  clear round. Mary King and Ian Stark also put in scrappy rides, and showed why Great Britain is such a powerhouse in eventing.

The top nine horses are separated by less than 10 points.  Last year Andrew Hoy moved up from 17th place after dressage to win, so anything can happen!