Update

Catherine W. Kohn V.M.D from the University of Pennsylvania just gave an update on the condition of Le Samurai. The bay gelding lost the support of his ligaments in his left front leg but sustained no broken bones. He is currently resting comfortably at Hagyard-Davidson-McGee. Good news to say the least.

The Rolex crowd

Rolex organizers said Saturday’s cross-country crowd was a whopping 46,972, an all-time record and up nearly 10,000 from last year. Equestrian Events Inc. board member Larry Chiles said the Saturday attendance was 29,249 in 2005 and 37,240 in 2006. He attributes the jump to more local interest in the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

“You’ve got a lot of people who’ve never come out here but now they’re interested because of the World Games,” he said.

Aussie pride

Louise Puslednik, Kylie Robert and Ryan Rapp have been hard to miss at Rolex this weekend. They’re the ones carrying the huge inflated kangaroo, along with an Australian flag.

All three are based at Iowa State University for graduate school. And all three are eventing fans, and so made the trek to Lexington to root for Aussie riders such as Heath Ryan, Clayton Fredericks and Wendy Schaeffer.

Even though they’ll be back in Australia by 2010, they’re thinking about returning for the World Equestrian Games. Despite the expense.

“It’s expensive to go anywhere from Australia,” Robert said.

Tough day in the books

While we had our share of lowlights today with Amy Tryon’s mount Le Samurai and Heath Ryan each suffering injuries, Kristin Bachman and Heidi White Carty were bright spots. Kristin will head into tomorrow’s show jumping phase with the overall lead after posting a wonderful double-clear ride aboard Gryffindor this morning.

Heidi and Northern Spy were moving beautifully on course, but were held up just before the basket of flowers as the crew came to Heath’s aid and loaded him onto an ambulance. Despite the lenghthy delay, Heidi and her massive bay gelding picked up right were they left off, posting a double clear of their own to move into second overall with a score of 52.0.

It should be a fun battle for the title tomorrow. And if we can make it through the day without incident, all the better for everyone involved.

Our thoughts go out to Heath and “Sparky”.

More bad news

The unfortunate luck keeps coming this afternoon. Australia’s Heath Ryan was nearing the conclusion of his cross-country effort when his mount, Flame, fell, throwing Ryan headlong into the dirt. Flame appeared to escape unscathed, but Ryan was transported out of the Horse Park via ambulance. No immediate word was available on his condition.

Sad news

Amy Tryon, the leader after dressage with a score of 47.0, appeared on her way to a clear round in cross country when her mount Le Samurai appeared to take a few bad steps just before the last fence. The two made it over the last fence but pulled up immediately after with Le Samurai in great discomfort. The bay gelding appeared to have injured his left front leg and was vanned off at the finish line. Tryon traveled in the van with him, attempting to comfort her injured mount.

What an absolute shame. Let’s all pray for Amy and Le Samurai that they have a happy ending.

Cruising to the lead

Kristin Bachman just turned in arguably the best ride of the morning. She and Gryffindor covered the course in 11:11 and had no jumping faults, putting them in the lead on their dressage score of 48.2 as we head into the lunch break. Well done!

Selling horse parks

Horse parks are going up in states all over the country, many of them modeled on the Kentucky Horse Park.

Robert Garcia came to Rolex this year to get some ideas for the Monterey, Calif. horse park, which he hopes will break ground in 2009.

“It’s spectacular,” Garcia said as he watched cross-country near fence 27, the Dray. “I’m astounded by the number of folks here.”

California doesn’t really have a venue as big or varied as the Horse Park, Garcia said. “There’s plenty of room for many riding venues, especially in California. It can really bring economic benefit to an area.”

Time bandit

Many predicted riders would have trouble meeting the time on Michael Etherington-Smith’s cross-county course and that has proven true so far. Wendy Schaeffer aboard Koyuna Sun Magic is the only one to go clean so far as she crossed the line in 11.17 with no jumping faults to make her dressage score of 57.6 stand up.

Logistical nightmare

As a NASCAR junkie who has attended several races, I know thing or two about horrendous traffic. I can safely say, however, little compares to the fiasco that is taking place outside of Kentucky Horse Park right now.

It took this reporter a full 50 minutes to make it from the McDonald’s on Newtown Pike to the entrance of Kentucky Horse Park. I’m sure part of the problem was due to the fact there was no officer at the four-way intersection directing traffic.

If you are planning to head out here and haven’t already left, here are a few alternate routes to consider. The Interstate looked fairly backed up as well so you might want to try cutting down Russell Cave to Iron Works, or coming down Georgetown Rd and getting to Iron Works that way. I don’t know if any of those routes are any better but believe me when I say they can’t be much worse.