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In the morning clean rounds were scarce, with only Sarah Cousins and Topspin managing it, and multiple rails the norm. The afternoon started with a capacity crowd overflowing the stands and the winds not diminishing. The first horse in the ring was Bruce Davidson's cross-country superstar Apparition. As Rolex is shown live on television in Europe, timing must be exact and Davidson and Apparition were forced to walk around for several minutes. The wait did not seem to be helping Apparition, who show jumped like he'd gone cross-country and his overboldness cost him three rails. Next came Darren Chiacchia and R.G.Renegade, now standing 10th (Davidson and Chiacchia rode out of order because they both had two horses in the top 20). The horse showed the effort of his game effort the day before, and took four rails. Gina Miles and McKinlaigh had come all the way from California to ride at Rolex. They weren't the most experienced pair, but they'd jumped clean on cross-country to land in 18th place. Now the enormous liver chestnut Irish Sporthorse was cantering over the show jumping in the same affable style as he'd gone cross-country. They survived a scary moment at fence 8 when he spooked down at the liver pool under the vertical, but came home with the first clean round of the afternoon. Miles' smile was visible to everyone in the stands as she hugged her horse's neck.
Amy Tryon and Poggio II were standing in 4th after a soggy cross-country round, but the game little Thoroughbred lived up to his bottomless reputation by skipping over the show jumps like they were nothing. His floating round would eventually move the pair into third. Next was John Williams on Carrick, who jumped carefully, and kept most of the rails up. Most, but not all, as he had one rail down, giving some breathing room to the two at the top. William Fox-Pitt and Stunning cantered in with two rails in hand over Williams, but in the press conference the day before he had described the chestnut as an "economical show jumper." Unfortunately, he proved to be a bit too economical as they took three rails, ultimately dropping them to fourth behind Williams and Tryon. When Kim Vinoski cantered into the ring on Winsome Adante, it had an eerie ring of familiarity. She had won the three-star at Rolex on former mount Over The Limit, and had been in standing in first on that horse in the four-start the following year. However a rail in the show jumping had dropped her to fourth. This time around she had two rails in hand, but no more. She needed both of them, and when the second rail dropped three fences from home the crowd held its collective breath-even a time fault would deny her the blue again. But Vinoski would not be denied, and she jumped flawlessly the rest of the way to come home with 56.20, beating Williams by a mere .41 penalties. "This is such a great feeling-it hasn't caught up with me yet," said Vinoski after her win. "I am one lucky person to have an owner like Linda Wachtmiester, who owns all my horses, in my life, and I am so fortunate to do what I do. Kentucky will always have a such a special place in my heart." Of her winning mount, who also won Radnor in 2000, and Blenheim in 2001, she said, "'Dan' knows everything. He's a phenomenal athlete, a phenomenal character, and always sure of himself. He knows everything." The wind didn't seem to affect Vinoski, though she did admit to having some concerns about hearing the whistle to start the round, or to pull her up if a jump blew down on course. But she was surprised how much she had moved up. "After the placings on Thursday I was not expecting to be sitting here," she said of her start in 10th place. "I [also] didn't expect to be sitting here after dressage," said a smiling Williams. "I was disappointed in myself to have made an unfortunate error [in my dressage test] (he did his rein-back too early), and to have gone so early. But, I'm delighted with the horse. He went well all week, and it's the best he's ever done." Williams has had Carrick since the horse was a 4-year-old. He bought him from breeder Doug Deed in Canada, who owns the stallion Cozy's Commander. Williams says he has bought 13 horses from Deed, but all of the others he's sold on. "They are all good jumpers and have good personalities, Carrick was one of the better movers. He's very laid back, but opinionated at the same time. He pretty much looks down his nose at all other living creatures," he said. Though Williams, who is also a noted cross-country course designer and builder in his own right, clearly loves the big chestnut, the financial realities are that every horse in his barn is for sale. "I expect I'll be keeping him, but everything has a price tag. You don't like to say that, but I can't have it another way," he said sadly. Tryon was equally pleased with her steady upward climb, from 24th after dressage to third. "The dressage is a work in progress. But he's a good jumper and he's normally fairly fast on cross-country, so I just hoped for the best. "There was no particular strategy [for the clean show jumping round]," she continued. "He's not the most ridable horse, but he's honest, and he always wants to jump clear, so I just hang on and guide him as best I can, which is really the hardest part." All three riders have declared their intention for the World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain in September, and their hopes look strong after their great finishes. In a sign of the times, Williams had to ask the human drug testers for permission to engage in a celebratory sip of champagne at the final press conference. Tryon is the only one of the three with previous team experience (she rode on the 1999 Pan Am Games team with Poggio), but Vinoski has been here before. She was selected for the team in 1998 and 2000, only to have her horse go lame before the competition. As a result, Vinoski is hopeful, but circumspect about her chances this year. "I'd just like my horse to stay sound [throughout the selection process], maybe the third time's the charm for me," she said. "I just want him to stay sound." Tryon has been running a marathon the last two weeks, as she finished 2nd on Woodstock at Foxhall the week before, and must now hop a plane for England to compete My Beau at the Badminton CCI**** next weekend ("Beau" arrived last week). Her excellent finish at Rolex had an unintended consequence-she missed her planned flight to England to stay for the awards and festivities. "My husband is on the cell phone frantically calling around trying to find us another plane to England. I hope to get there [before the mandatory first horse inspection] on Wednesday," she said with a laugh. Horsecity.com's Road to Rolex profile Jennifer Carter and Leaps and Bounds completed their first 4-star in 30th place following 3 rails in show jumping. Carter says she is happy with "Pippa," but felt she hadn't ridden quite the way she wanted to. But, she is thrilled to have gotten through her first 4-star with her little powerhouse of a partner.
View a photo gallery of the Show Jumping event.
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