Courageous Comet may only be 10 years old, but he answered all the questions on cross-country day, April 29, better than many of his elders.  He and Becky Holder flew into the lead early in the morning by finishing on their dressage score of 43.7 points.

“I kind of feel like Cinderella at the ball,” said a bedazzled Holder.  “I’m waiting to turn back into a pumpkin.” 

This is this combination’s second start at Kentucky, but they didn’t finish because of a foot problem in 2004.
   
Polly Stockton of Great Britain moved into second place from seventh with a scrappy ride aboard Tom Quigley.
  
“The course rode harder than it walked,” said Stockton, who rode Tangleman to second here in 2003.  “We’ve seen all these types of jumps before, but putting it all together made the difference.”
   
Heidi White has grabbed third with Northern Spy.  This combination placed 10th at the Badminton CCI**** (England) last year and galloped around Rolex like the experienced pair that they are.
   
Holder and White now appear to be in strong contention for the United States eventing team for this summer’s World Equestrian Games. Neither has ridden on a U.S. team before.
   
“We knew coming into this that this weekend would be very, very important,” said White.  “We knew this had to be THE weekend.  And we showed them.”
   
Holder had a different perspective on qualifying for the team.  “The pressure gets to me,” she said.  “I tried to pretend that nobody else was watching, which was kind of hard since you could hardly see the galloping lanes for all the people.”
   
There were 37,240 fans in attendance today, about 2,000 fewer than the record set for cross-country day in 2000.
   
Jessica Heidemann had a fantastic go aboard French Twist, turning in a double-clear to move from 11th to fourth. 
   
The day’s biggest leap into the top 10 was Karen O’Connor and Upstage, who moved up from 29th to 10th place.  Nathalie Bouckaert Pollard and West Farthing also scaled the ranks, moving from 20th to seventh with a double-clear round.
   
Sara Mittleider, the only young rider in the competition, had a phenomenal run aboard El Primero.  She came all the way from Idaho to show the more experienced riders the fastest way to go at the first water—she was the only one to attempt jumping the right side.  They moved up from 41st to 18th with a double clear.

Molly Hooper Bull moved up 25 spots from 50th to 25th in her first run at Rolex Kentucky, and Jenna Schildmier moved from 49th to 26th with 8.4 time faults.
   
But the triumphs were equaled by the disappointments, as many experienced combinations met surprising failure.
   
Windfall and Darren Chiacchia, who took a commanding lead after dressage, looked sticky on the cross-country course.  They had a stop at the last part of the coffin (Uncle Frani’s Birch), fence 9B. And then their trouble continued when Chiacchia had a run-out in the Head of the Lake at the first duck (fence 20B).  He retired after Windfall stopped a third time on course at the last element of the Banks & Splash (fence 26ABCD), following a rough ride through that combination.
   
Kim Severson also had a disappointing ride when she went for a swim in the Head of the Lake.  Royal Venture looked unwilling at the first water, and although he did jump into the Head of the Lake, he did it reluctantly and dislodged her.  Severson tried to stick with him but couldn’t quite hold on.
   
Gina Miles had to retire McKinlaigh after he ran out of steam before the third water complex.  McKinlaigh appeared to be bleeding from his nose when Miles pulled up.
   
Aside from Stockton, the British riders traveled a long way for not much.  William Fox-Pitt retired both his horses.  He got soaked when Coup de Coeur, who lost two shoes earlier in the course, fell jumping in to the Head of the Lake. And he pulled Mr. Dumbledore up before the same jump, perhaps to avoid taking another dip since the horse was jumping badly.
   
Leslie Law incurred a stop at the ditch in the coffin with Shear L’Eau, but he continued on before pulling up five fences later.    Phillip Dutton had an uncharacteristic run-out with Amazing Odyssey at 12C, the last squirrel in the Sunken Road.  Buck Davidson retired Idalgo after a stop at the same fence.
   
There was one elimination for refusals on course—Kai Ruder and Edward 16 of Germany, who refused to enter the Sunken Road.  Like Fox-Pitt with Coup de Couer, Mara Dean with Nicki Henley were forced to retire after a fall of horse at fence 14, the Ditch and Palisade.  Ten riders chose to retire on course.
   
Stephen Bradley withdrew fifth-placed From before cross-country, and Amy Tryon withdrew Poggio, her international veteran who’d been 15th after dressage.
   
The third veterinary inspection is at 8:30 tomorrow morning, with show jumping starting just after noon.

Standings After Cross Country
1. Courageous Comet, Becky Holder, 43.7
2. Tom Quigley, Polly Stockton, 48.2        
3. Northern Spy, Heidi J. White, 49.4    
4. French Twist, Jessica Heidemann, 50.6
5. Woodstock, Amy Tryon     51.1      
6. Master Monarch, Andrew Hoy, 53.1
7. West Farthing, Nathalie Bouckaert Pollard, 55.0
8. Yeoman’s Point, Andrew Hoy, 55.8    
9. Hyperlite, Bruce (Buck) Davidson, Jr., 57.5    
10. Upstage, Karen O’Connor, 58.0