Lexington, KY April 25, 2025 - Some 45 horses are set to start the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Farnam, on Thursday, April 26, after passing this afternoon’s first veterinary inspection. The three-member ground jury decided after careful and lengthy deliberation not to pass one horse this afternoon, but that one horse was Ocotillo, the mount of Lexington-based Cathy Wieschhoff.
Dressage starts at 9:30 Thursday morning with three-time Rolex Kentucky winner Karen O’Connor riding Theodore O’Connor, the first pony to ever start ate Rolex Kentucky. O’Connor, who will also ride the only slightly larger Upstage late on Friday afternoon, is one of only two previous Rolex Kentucky winners riding this year. The other is Bruce Davidson Sr., on Jam, who will perform his dressage test on Friday at 3:10.
That would seem to leave this year’s contest a rather wide-open affair, but 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.
An unusually large field of four young riders will be competing for the J.D. Reeves Perpetual Trophy this year. Sara Mittleider of Idaho (who has twice completed Rolex Kentucky on her El Primero), Tiana Coudray of California, and Hannah Sue Bennett of Kentucky will each ride on Thursday. Emilee Libbey of New Jersey will ride on Friday morning.
The only Four-Star Event in the Western Hemisphere, the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Farnam, is the premier competition for the top horses and riders in Eventing. The competition features this country’s best horses and riders and international stars vying for their share of $200,000 in prize money and a chance at the $250,000 Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing. The winning owner will be awarded $65,000 and the winning rider will receive a Rolex timepiece. The classic Kentucky Julep Cup is presented to each as a reminder of their singular accomplishment.
Live webcasts of all three phases (Thursday and Friday Dressage, Saturday Cross-Country and Sunday Show Jumping) are available online at www.NBCSports.com for a low cost of just $7.99 for all four days!
The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event will be broadcast on NBC television as a one-hour special on Sunday, May 6, from 5:00-6:00 p.m. EDT. To accommodate those fans of the sport who want to see the action live as it happens, NBC, in conjunction with Equestrian Events, Inc., the producer of the event, and the United States Equestrian Federation, is presenting these unprecedented live webcasts.
Complete unedited coverage of the 2007 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Farnam, are available on a set of DVDs that are being produced daily during the competition. DVDs are available for sale on site during the event or at the event’s website.
Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event organizer, Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI), is a non-profit charitable corporation created in 1975 to stage the 1978 World Three-Day Event Championships, the first time those championships had been held outside of Europe. Following the success of those World Championships, the U.S. Equestrian Federation asked EEI to organize an annual Three-Day Event in the spring and the Kentucky Three-Day Event was born. Rolex Watch U.S.A. became title sponsor in 1981.
For more information on the 2007 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, presented by Farnam, please visit the Rolex Kentucky website at www.rk3de.org.
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