British riders sit at the top in Kentucky after day one of Dressage

British rider, Yasmin Ingham sits at the top of the leaderboard following the first day of dressage at the CCI5*-L Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event presented by MARS Equestrian (K3DE).

Ingham’s score of 26, gives her a solid advantage over fellow British rider Kirsty Chabert with Classic VI, who sit in second on 31. Overnight third position went to Germany’s Malin Hansen-Hotopp on Carlitos Quidditch K who finished .1 penalty behind Chabert.

Following the day’s dressage, Ingham commented: “I think his test overall had some brilliant highlights,” she said of The Sue Davis Fund’s 13-year-old chestnut Selle Francais gelding.

“We’ve been working really hard to get a bit more expression in the trot. He carries himself so beautifully in the ring now, and holds so much presence when he’s in there, and he definitely showed that today.

“My first center line could have been a little bit straighter, but I think he was really on my aids in all the movements and he really excelled today,” she concluded.

Ingham finished second at K3DE in 2022 and later that year took top honours in the FEI Eventing World Championship. Unfortunately, a stop in Kentucky last year kept her from returning to the podium, an unfortunate event that repeated itself at the European Championships in September.

“I take snippets away from every event, and I’ve had a lot of those in the last year,” she said. “We’ve done lots of training to perfect each phase, and I’m coming into this having learned a lot of things from lots of learning experiences. I always try to make a positive out of a not-ideal situation and channel into the next event. We definitely learned a lot in the last year.”

With the first phase behind them, Ingham is already eyeing the cross-country course. “He’s run well here the past two years,” she said. “I really enjoy riding around here; the ground is obviously just brilliant. The way [course designer Derek di Grazia] produces the cross-country course and designs it is spectacular, and it’s always dressed beautifully. There’s lots of questions throughout from beginning to end, but I’m really excited to get out there on Saturday.”

Chabert and Classic VI, a 15-year-old bay Anglo-European Studbook mare, put in a strong test that thrilled Chabert.

“It sounds daft, but at 15 she actually is improving, so hopefully she’s like a really nice bottle of red wine and keeps improving with age,” Chabert said with a laugh.

Chabert faced some weather-related challenges this spring at home in England, but a strong run in a 4* in The Netherlands has her feeling good about her chances in Kentucky.

“We’ve had a great prep, but it’s obviously been very, very wet in England,” she said. “To be honest, I’ve come here — yes, full of confidence — but I’ve got Yaz to my left and I hope she’s still sitting there Sunday. I’ve got my own goals that I would like to achieve, and where we are at the end of the week will look after itself.”

Hansen-Hotopp and Bodil Ipsen’s 12-year-old gray Holsteiner gelding found each other a bit by chance, but they’ve made a strong partnership together. She was asked to ride him as a 5-year-old in some young horse classes, and she was initially resistant given her own string of horses and her children. When she finally agreed, she had an interesting time.

“I did it and he was really grumpy and bucking all the time,” she laughed. “He was a big, loose horse who was not so easy, but he did a great job when he was jumping. [At the time I] had a horse who was jumping very badly in show jumping, so my husband said, ‘You know what? Just buy him if you think that’s a good horse.’

“So, we bought him and then we built it together from when he was a five-year-old. It was just going up and up and up, and now I’m here,” she finished with a smile.

Dressage is set to continue at 13:00 on Friday, April 26th, with Great Britain’s, Oliver Townend riding Cooley Rosalent, and Tom McEwan with JL Dublin in the line-up to conclude the dressage phase of the competition. With four of GBR’s best, here’s hoping for a prosperous 5* eventing competition ahead of the Olympic selectors in a few weeks.