OTTBs Look to Reclaim Crown at Rolex Kentucky
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Off-track Thoroughbred Parklane Hawk, 2012 Rolex Kentucky winner. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Spring around Lexington, Ky. is a horse lover’s dream with foals running around paddocks, top class racing at Keeneland and events heating up at the Kentucky Horse Park. Thoroughbreds own the area and its no different at the Horse Park this weekend when the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event takes place from April 28 to May 1.
Seventy-eight horses are scheduled to compete at Rolex as of April 24, 17 of those being off-track Thoroughbreds with two coming from Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA) accredited facilities. In addition to being represented by those horses in the event, the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance is Rolex Kentucky’s designated charity and TAA ambassador Laine Ashker is competing at the event as well.
Last year, Rolex Kentucky attracted 21 OTTBs with the best finish coming from Donner, who finished 12th. Donner is again in the event this year and will compete in dressage at 2:10 p.m. on Thursday. The first OTTB to hit the ring at Rolex this year is Steady Eddie, ridden by Boyd Martin, who is also riding the last OTTB of the dressage phase of the event with Blackfoot Mystery.
DONNER
The 17 OTTBs competing made 259 combined starts on the track with 16 victories and $230,170 in earnings. The winningest of those was Martin’s Steady Eddie, who raced as Big Jet and won seven of his 36 starts in Australia with his last start coming in 2009. The richest is the New Jersey-bred Frankie, who raced as Pass This and won twice but hit the board seven more times for $99,310 in earnings.
Madison Park takes the honors as oldest OTTB, with the Washington-bred born in 1998, seven years before the two youngest horses on the list, 11-year-olds AP Prime and Tactical Maneuver.
MADISON PARK
The last U.S. rider to win Rolex was Phillip Dutton in 2008 but the last OTTB to win the event was Parklane Hawk, who won Rolex with England’s William Fox-Pitt in 2012. This year, all but four of the OTTBs will be ridden by U.S. riders with three ridden by Canadians and one by England’s James Alliston. Twelve of the OTTBs have recent experience at Rolex, competing at the event last year.
Rolex Kentucky is the only four-star (the top level of eventing) event in the western hemisphere and just like the Kentucky Derby it starts off a Triple Crown of sorts. It is the first of three events in the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing with the other two being the Badminton Horse Trials and Burghley Horse Trials, both held in England. Parklane Hawk won the first two legs of the event in 2012 before finishing fifth at the 2013 Badminton, which had been cancelled in 2012 due to weather.
For more information on the off-track Thoroughbreds competing at Rolex, look at the table below, courtesy of Retired Racehorse Project.
Name
Rider
Racing Name
Race Record
Earnings
Anthony Patch
Lainey Ashker
Alex’s Castledream
10-0-0-0
$815
AP Prime
Leah Lang-Gluscic
A.P. Prime
31-2-4-5
$20,175
Blackfoot Mystery
Boyd Martin
Blackfoot Mystery
3-0-0-0
$1,200
Donner
Lynn Symansky
Smart Gorky
6-0-0-0
$2,870
F.I.S. Prince Charming
Lisa Barry
Waitui Jo
2-0-0-0
$0
Frankie
Ryan Wood
Pass This
19-2-4-3
$99,310
Houdini
Katie Frei
Rocky Times
5-0-0-1
$1,180
Irish Rhythm
Rachel McDonough
Daniel Alexander
43-1-3-4
$25,923
Madison Park
Kyle Carter
Magic Retribution
11-1-0-0
$2,744
Parker
James Alliston
Eastside Park
15-0-0-3
$8,145
Rise Against
Bunnie Sexton
Trabuco Kid
4-0-0-0
$0
Santino
Holly Payne Caravelia
Santino
15-0-1-3
$4,931
Simply Priceless
Elisa Wallace
Kalinga Damo
10-0-0-0
$711
Sound Prospect
Alexandra Knowles
Sound Prospect
13-0-2-1
$2,546
Steady Eddie
Boyd Martin
Big Jet
36-7-2-3
$19,852
Tactical Maneuver
Ashley Johnson
Shykee’s Thunder
12-0-0-1
$4,588
Tsunami
Sally Cousins
Tsu Tsu Ro
24-3-2-4
$35,170