Donner Leads Thoroughbred Charge at Rolex
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Lynn Symansky and Donner (registered as Smart Gorky) jumped from 32nd to 12th in the standings through the phases. (Photos by Melissa Bauer-Herzog)
While the 2015 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day event didn’t go quite as well as racing fans hoped, off-track Thoroughbreds still held their own at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky. with 11 completing the challenging event.
After the first day of dressage two of the top five in the standings were off-the-track Thoroughbreds. While none were in the top five after the second day of tests Anthony Patch, who raced as Alex’s Castledream, went into the cross country phase in seventh with four others in the top 30 as well.
Cross country on Saturday was a trying experience for all of the Rolex entries with storms rolling through Kentucky and drenching spectators and competitors alike. Between the rain that had hit the state in earlier weeks and Saturday’s storms the footing proved to be a challenge with 25 pairs going back to the barn without finishing the cross country course.
But the weather didn’t seem to be an issue for many of the Thoroughbreds with Lynn Symansky’s Donner skipping around the course and improving from 32nd to 15th after cross country.
Donner wasn’t the only major mover in the standings after tackling the course with Simply Priceless moving up 10 spots to 12th, Shiraz making a huge leap from 49th after dressage to 14th and Parker jumping from 59th to 17th.
In all, after cross country the top 30 was a familiar place for Thoroughbreds with six in the top 30 and none of the remaining retired racehorses any worse than 38th.
THOROUGHBREDS COMPETING AT ROLEX
In eventing, every phase has its challenges and the biggest challenge in stadium jumping may be that the horses are asked to jump a round against the clock a day after completing the cross country course.
Many horses are feeling the effects of the event by the time they get to stadium jumping and it can be hard to jump a clear round inside the optimum time. This year, only eight of the 41 horses to compete in stadium jumping went double clear (no time penalties and no rails knocked down).
None of the retired racehorses fell into this group (the unraced and unregistered Thoroughbred Petite Flower did go double clear) but Anthony Patch continued his stellar weekend by only suffering one penalty point for going just a little over the time limit. Unfortunately for him and rider Laine Ashker, the pair suffered multiple penalties on cross country that dropped them from seventh to 37th after that phase. The pair finished the event in 29th on a total score of 100.4.
The highest placed retired racehorse was Donner, who jumped three more spots up the standings in show jumping to finish 12th overall. Six other off-the-track Thoroughbreds finished in the top 25 with Shiraz finishing as the second best retired racehorse and Parker as the third best.
For full results on how all the Thoroughbreds at the event did, look at the table below.
Name
Rider
Racing Name
Race Record
Rolex Finish
Anthony Patch
Lainey Ashker
Alex’s Castledream
10-0-0-0
29th
AP Prime
Leah Lang-Gluscic
A.P. Prime
31-2-4-5
Withdrawn after dressage
Coal Creek
Elizabeth Snow
Frank J
7-1-0-1
27th
Collection Pass
Kate Chadderton
Collection Pass
6-0-0-0
Eliminated during cross country
Donner
Lynn Symansky
Smart Gorky
6-0-0-0
12th
F.I.S. Prince Charming
Lisa Barry
Waitui Jo
2-0-0-0
Retired during cross country
Fly Me Courageous
Sara Kozumplik Murphy
Truly Improper
10-0-1-0
19th
Gleaming Road
Anna Collier
Pistol Pakin Pete
22-3-3-3
32nd
Houdini
Katie Frei
Rocky Times
5-0-0-1
Eliminated during cross country
Imperial Melody
Cody Sturgess
Imperial Melody
1-0-0-0
34th
Irish Rhythm
Rachel McDonough
Daniel Alexander
43-1-3-4
Eliminated during cross country
Parker
James Alliston
Eastside Park
15-0-0-3
15th
Pirate
Meghan O’Donoghue
Pirate’s Gold Star
10-1-0-2
21st
Relentless Pursuit
Dana Widstrand
Super Rover
11-3-0-0
Eliminated during stadium jumping
Rise Against
Bunnie Sexton
Trabuco Kid
4-0-0-0
24th
Shiraz
Colleen Rutledge
Bold and Burley
14-2-0-1
14th
Simply Priceless
Elisa Wallace
Kalinga Damo
10-0-0-0
17th
Sound Prospect
Alexandra Knowles
Sound Prospect
13-0-2-1
Retired during cross country
Tsunami
Sally Cousins
Tsu Tsu Ro
24-3-2-4
Eliminated during cross country
Vilas County
Werner Geven
Vilas County
9-1-0-0
Eliminated during cross country
Andromaque
Will Faudree
unnamed
unraced
Withdrawn after cross country
Never Outfoxed
Holly Payne
Never Outfoxed
unraced
20th
Novelle
Angela Grzywinski
Cupid’s Tart
unraced
38th
Petite Flower
Buck Davidson
unregistered
unraced
13th