Great Britain and Australia Testing the Kentucky Waters

Both Great Britain and Australia have sent formidable trios to try claim the Rolex watch that goes to the winner on Sunday. The British have sent Olympians Ian Stark, on Full Circle II, Mary King, on Apache Sauce, and Polly Stockton, on Tangleman. Stockton and Tangleman have been runners-up at Rolex Kentucky twice before.

Representing Australia will be Wendy Schaeffer, the best-scoring member of the Australian gold-medal team at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. She’ll be riding Koyuna Sun Magic at 10:56 on Thursday. Heath Ryan, who coached the Australian team to their team gold medals in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, will ride Flame at 3:10 on Friday. And Clayton Fredericks, winner of the 2006 FEI Eventing World Cup Final, will ride Ben Along time, on whom he won that title, at 9:30 on Friday morning.

Phillip Dutton, who rode on the Australian gold-medal teams in 1996 and 2000, will ride for the first time at Rolex Kentucky under the U.S. flag. Dutton changed his citizenship in December, having lived in Pennsylvania since 1993 and having been the U.S. Eventing Association Rider of the Year for most of the last decade. He’ll be the second rider into the ring tomorrow, on Connaught, and the final rider in the ring on Friday, on Truluck.
PhelpsPhoto: Ian Stark