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Friday, March 29, 2024

Phillip Dutton repeats as Eventing’s National Champion, places three in top 10 at Rolex CCC**** Championship

LEXINGTON, Ky.—Phillip Dutton of West Grove, Pa., riding the veteran Mr. Medicott, won Eventing’s National Championship at the Rolex CCC****, April 27-30 in Lexington, for a record fifth time overall.

Phillip Dutton Mr. MedicottPhillip Dutton on Mr. Medicott - photo by Allen MacMillanDutton also placed all three of his horses in the top 10, an amazing feat while competing against the top event riders in the world.

Dutton was the highest placed American rider, scoring 54.6, but he actually finished fourth behind Germany’s Michael Jung on the super mare FischerRocana FST, who won Rolex for a record setting third consecutive year.

Standing second on a score of 37.1, behind Clark Montgomery on Loughan Glen, 33.6, after dressage, Jung shot into the lead after cross country, adding just 1.6 time faults to a clean jumping round to finish on 38.7, for a lead of 5.7 and giving him a fence in hand in stadium jumping.

Last to go on Sunday, Jung needed that fence in hand as he had one down in the last combination to win on a score of 42.7.

France’s Maxime Livio on Qalao Des Mers finished on his dressage score of 44.6 to place second, and Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter Zara Tindall on High Kingdom also finished on her dressage score of 46.6 to place third.

Hannah Sue Burnett of The Plains, Va., on Under Suspicion was fifth on 54.8; followed by Matthew Brown of Chadds Ford, Pa., on Super Socks, 56.8; Boyd Martin of Cochranville, Pa., on Cracker Jack, 61.4; Dutton on Fernhill Fugitive,63.0; Kurt Martin of The Plains on Delux Z, 68.3; and Dutton on I’m Sew Ready, 68.1.

Of the 59 starters, 39 finished, with only five going double clear (no jumping or time faults) cross country and only four going double clear in stadium jumping on Sunday.

Along with Livio and Tindall, Brown, Erin Sylvester of Cochranville, Pa., on Mettraise and Ireland’s Tim Bourke on Luckaun Quality were double clear cross country, designed by Derek di Grazia, with Sylvester hitting the optimum time exactly to win a two-year lease on a Land Rover.

The jumping course on Sunday, designed by Richard Jeffery, took its toll, with only four, Livio and Tindall along with Martin and Will Faudree on Pfun, who placed 25th, going double clear.

“It was a tough track,” said Dutton of Saturday’s cross country course. “There was no one area that stood out. It tested scope, speed and endurance. The ground definitely got a little heavier in the afternoon, and the horses got hotter in the afternoon, but they cooled out quickly.”

Dutton has now completed the Rolex Kentucky Championship 40 times, another amazing record.

“I didn’t realize that,” said Dutton. “I don’t count, but it sounds like a lot, doesn’t it.”

 

MONTGOMERY of Delaplane, Va., riding Loughan Glen, led after dressage on a score of 33.6, but two stops cross country plus time faults and a rail down in stadium jumping dropped him down to finish 27th.

Saturday offered every kind of weather, beginning with perfect cross country weather, cloudy and fairly cool for the first couple of hours, followed by rain and a torrential downpour, and then clearing to a hot afternoon.

“I thought the course was easier than last year (after walking the course),” said Jung. “But in the end it was tougher to ride. In the beginning, my mare jumped very strong. We have a good partnership, which is most important in eventing.”

His mare is a supr jumper, and at the fence into the Head of the Lake, she looked like she left out about two strides, and if you look at the pictures above you can see Jung’s reaction, but she cleared it easily and didn’t stumble on landing, as many other horses did there.

“I am super happy for my horse,” said Livio, who went in the morning before the rain. “He start very fast and strong. He never wants to keep quiet. He wants to go all the time. I didn’t fight with him. The ground was superb and the weather good.”

“I was happy for the rain last night,” said Tindall, who went after the rain on Saturday. “I was doing a little rain dance in my hotel room. High Kingdom kept galloping in the heat. He coped with the heat well.”

“My horse jumped out of his shoes before the Head of the Lake,” said Brown, who stood third after cross country but dropped to sixth with two fences down and a time fault Sunday. “It was hard to find good going, and he was tired at the end, but he’s nothing if not all heart.”

 

“WITHOUT a horse, we are just walking people,” said Jung after stadium jumping. “She is a top horse, so much fighting for me. We had not enough power in the combination (where he had a rail down), and that made me a bit nervous, but it all worked out.”

“All the time there’s a little pressure when you come in the ring in a four-star against all the top riders,” said Livio. “I want to be enough good for my horse. And it’s good to keep the pressure on Michi (Jung). My horse, he gives me his best.”

“Mr. Medicott has been off for two years,” said Dutton of the 18-year-old gelding. “There was nothing in those two years that suited him. A lot of the events would have been beneath him. He is such an incredible horse.”

“This was his last time competing at this level,” said Dutton. “I probably didn’t have him quite fit enough. He’s only been to one horse trail in the last two years.”

Mr. Medicott also had the hardest going of Dutton’s three mounts as he was his last ride, when the ground was the deepest and the heat the worst.

Press Officer Marty Bauman asked Dutton how he was holding up under the stress of the past months while his step-daughter LeeLee Jones, daughter of his wife Evie, had been in a coma following a fall while riding.

“LeeLee is in rehab in Bryn Mawr now,” said Dutton. “We were glad for the live streaming of this event, because she enjoyed watching it.”

“We’ve gotten great support,” said Dutton. “This is a great family to be a part of. This is Evie’s first trip away since it happened. It’s good for her to see that the world goes on.”

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