One rail down puts Tim Price and Wesko in second place at the Kentucky four star
Tim Price and Wesko (courtesy U.S. Eventing Association)New Zealand eventing pair Tim Price and Wesko, who are based at Mildenhall, have finished second at the Rolex Kentucky Four Star Three Day Event, just behind the reigning Olympic champ Michael Jung.
On the final day of the competition, Price and Wesko (owned by Christina Knudsen and The Wesko Syndicate) had a single rail down in the showjumping. This allowed Germany's Michael Jung and Fischerrocana FST to take first place.
Jung also took third place with his second horse. And the defending Kentucky champion, Britain's William Fox-Pit and Bay My Hero went clear to hold on to fourth place.
The showjumping phase took place in front of a crowd of more than 23,000: “You just have to put everything to one side and focus,” said Price. “My horse is very good in a crowd and I believed that would lift him today . . . and it did.”
Next month, Price will be competing at Badminton with Ringwood Sky Boy, and later in the season he will return to Luhmuhlen which he won last year, but this time with a young horse.
His diary for 2016 is filling up: “I will definitely be back at Kentucky next year.”
For New Zealanders at the event, the last day was clouded by Emily Cammock's hard decision to have her horse, the 15-year-old grey gelding Dambala, put down. Vets told her that the leg injury that recurred during the cross country meant he would never be right again - even in retirement.
Cammock said in a statement: “He was the most honest, willing and trusting horse that always gave 150 percent. I feel honoured that he put his trust in me and together we made a pretty awesome team.”