Eventing dressage just continues to improve, and Stephen Bradley illustrated that in the first morning of dressage at the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** with his lovely test aboard From.

All the judges rewarded Bradley with 70 percent or better on Thursday, April 27, catapulting him into the early lead with a score of 43.9.  Just fourth to go, From scored a steady stream of 7s and 8s, even garnering a 9 for his seamless flying changes.

Heidi White and Northern Spy were the last to go before lunch, but they went into second place after their forward, accurate test (48.9%).  She had excellent flying changes and a lovely canter serpentine, but a bobble after the halt where Northern Spy cantered instead of trotting may have lowered their score a bit.

William Fox-Pitt of Great Britain took third aboard Coup de Coeur, the horse that finished third last year with Leslie Law.  Coup de Coeur is an extravagant mover, but there was room for improvement where he scored 3s and 4s in his canter serpentine for anticipating his changes.

Amy Tryon grabbed fourth with Woodstock.  They had a very nice halt and reinback and scored many 8s for their canter work. 

Penny Rowland took fifth aboard Windswept.