Lexington, Ky.—April 26
After a testing cross-country phase, Will Coleman and Off The Record have retained the lead in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S. No one made it around Derek di Grazia’s course within the time, but Coleman and “Timmy” came closest, adding just 7.2 time penalties to their dressage score. They head into tomorrow’s show jumping on a 29.0, with a rail in hand over Phillip Dutton and Possante, who held onto their second-place spot (33.5). Dutton also lies third with Denim (37.2).
“When I walked, I wasn’t sure anybody was going to be able to get [the time],” said Coleman. “It was just the way the course was set out. It was a fantastic track, extremely challenging, but the roping and way the questions were sort of coming together, I think just made it very difficult for you to maintain the necessary speed, to get the time allowed. I don’t get it necessarily takes away from the competition in any way, shape or form, but it just was not surprising to me at all that nobody really got that.”
Dutton was thrilled with the performances of Possante and Denim.
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“It was a lot of hard work,” said Dutton of Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course. “We knew it was a strong track, and then the conditions, and then the crowd. It takes a little bit of practice to get quick with you at this level. So I was trying to have a crack at it, but I didn’t go quite as fast as I was hoping to, but they both tried hard and will come out of it better than what we did today.”
Four riders were eliminated, and six retired. Thirty-eight horses will have to jog tomorrow morning in order to continue on to show jumping.
The Chronicle is on-site at the Kentucky Horse Park with two reporters to bring you everything you need to know at coth.com, so you don’t have to miss a minute of the action. You can find all of our coverage from the week here. You can also follow along on Instagram and Facebook. Be sure to read our May 23 issue for more in-depth coverage and analysis of the event.
