Saturday, Apr. 26, 2025

2016 Rolex Kentucky CCI****

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There were 55 horses presented at the final horse inspection for the Rolex Kentucky CCI****, and 54 will go on to the show jumping phase this afternoon.
We call Michael Jung "The Terminator," and he just terminated everybody else’s chances today.
When he canters into the Rolex Stadium in fischerRocana FST for tomorrow’s show jumping, Michael Jung will have three rails in hand over Phillip Dutton on Fernhill Fugitive. Part of that lead was based on Jung’s dressage score, but then he massively extended it by jumping the only near-clear (0.8 time penalties) over Derek di Grazia’s cross-country track today.
There are no new faces in the top three after dressage going into today’s cross-country at the Rolex Kentucky CCI****: Germany’s Michael Jung, last years Rolex winner, holds the top spot; crowd favorites Allison Springer and Arthur sit second; and the 2015 double gold medalist from the 2015 Pan American Games (Canada) Marilyn Little is third with RF Demeter. But there are 69 other riders out there getting ready to ride the toughest cross-country course in the United States, and only one can win. If you’re looking for someone else to pull for, ribbons or not, here are three to consider.

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There’s two ways to get to ride around the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** course. Chronicle reporter Mollie Bailey took the easy way.
It’s a good thing that the 2015 Rolex Kentucky event had such a strong foreign contingent because otherwise people would think that Derek di Grazia’s cross-country course was impossible.
One second. It’s the difference between Tim Price and Michael Jung at the top of the Rolex Kentucky leaderboard after cross-country. That 1 second over the optimum time is what gave Jung 0.4 time penalties with La Biosthetique Sam FBW, and it’s what put him into second just behind his co-leader after dressage, Price on Wesko. Does Jung feel sad about that one second?
Win, lose or anything in between, the riders at Rolex Kentucky had a variety of reasons to appreciate their partners today.

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