3rd and 4th in Kentucky
What a week we had in the US at the Defender Kentucky five-star. Mandy Gray’s Et Hop du Matz (Hoppy) and Amanda Gould’s Grafennacht (Lillie) performed out of their skins to finish 3rd and 4th in a top-class field.
Hoppy is only eleven and is gangly and still a little green, but he has an ace temperament. He’s getting stronger every year and there’s still more improvement to come. I was delighted with him in the dressage – he was unaffected by the atmosphere and put in a solid clear round performance in his test. When we look back to where he was a year ago the progress is huge, and it will keep developing.
Lillie had a less-than-ideal preparation out there, the first time I was able to school her was the warm-up for her test, so she was a little above herself in the atmospheric arena resulting in a couple of expensive mistakes. It was the best we could do in an imperfect situation, but another time with a normal preparation she could be right at the front of the pack.
Derek di Grazia set a great cross-country test – there were plenty of technical questions set around a track that was constantly changing in terms of direction, camber and incline. After the first lot to go it looked like the time would be challenging and clear jumping rounds were relatively few and far between.
I was excited to set out on Hoppy – the feeling he’s given me throughout his career has suggested that he could be a top cross-country horse, so I was looking forward to being tested. He’s rangy and athletic with a huge galloping stride and a very cool head. He made nothing of the technical questions and cruised around with a smile on his face. He was well up on the clock from start to finish and never got close to fatiguing. He cantered through the finish with his ears pricked with three seconds in hand and was the first to make the time. Excitingly, he could have gone for two minutes longer or coped with much slower ground and it would have suited him even more.
Setting out on Lillie felt totally different – we’re still a new partnership so I was learning on the way round. William has produced her beautifully, but it still takes time to fully learn each other’s buttons. She’s very game with a massive heart, she wouldn’t be the most athletic type that could fiddle if she was slightly wrong at a fence, but she’s very uncomplicated in her mind. Despite taking the long route coming out of the water at the Head of the Lake she too came home inside the time with one second to spare.
With very little time between my two rounds, I was unaware of what was happening on course, so only later learnt that Hoppy and Lillie were the only horses of the day to have made the time and most didn’t get anywhere close. Michael Jung was the closest with 6 seconds over, and Boyd Martin was the next fastest and 17 seconds outside. It’s a great relief to know that our fitness and preparation work at home has paid off. It takes less out of a horse when they don’t fatigue and both looked great on Saturday evening and Sunday morning for the final horse inspection. As always, Jess was in her element, giving them the best possible care both pre and post cross country.
I was fully aware that the show jumping phase could impact Lillie’s standing. I had a hypothesis about her jumping, which hopefully is proving to be effective – I only jump small fences outside to keep her confident and feeling good and I try to ride her in a very relaxed way. In the ring I give her plenty of space in front of a fence and wherever possible approach each fence off a curve. She jumped out of her skin, just having one very light fault at the middle part of the treble. I was thrilled with her performance and it kept her in 4th place.
With two horses lying consecutively, Lillie had jumped out of order, but it was a still a quick turnaround for Hoppy. I jumped very little outside with him, and he went into a packed stadium and nailed everything, jumping an impeccable clear round to hold on to 3rd place. I’ve really believed in him from the start of his journey and have joked that he’s “the best horse no one has ever heard of”. I’m thrilled for him that he’s now starting to shine on a suitable stage, and for his hugely supportive owner Mandy Gray.
Michael Jung was very impressive all week – it was great to see his Olympic champion Chipmunk looking as good as ever and they were highly deserving winners. American Boyd Martin did a great job piloting three horses around, the best of whom finished in second, and I was pleased for Tom McEwen who did a great job on Brookfield Quality to finish in 5th. It was really beneficial to have Dickie Waygood and Liz Brown (British performance manager and team vet) in support too.
Kentucky is the most incredible event with mind-blowing facilities, but most of all the team there are so incredibly welcoming and accommodating to all the riders, owners and support staff. Nothing is too much trouble and whatever anyone needs, they have. Thank you Kentucky Three Day Event – we can’t wait to be back!
