Britain’s Yasmin Ingham sits in fourth place at the conclusion of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event dressage.
Yasmin, 24, is the youngest rider in the competition and makes her Kentucky debut on the exciting Banzai Du Loir, who belongs to Sue Davies and Janette Chinn. The pair won Blenheim CCI4*-L last year, so much is expected on this 11-year-old horse’s five-star debut.
The combination scored 28.1 today.
“I’m so pleased,” said Yasmin. “I’m just so proud of how he went down there and kept himself composed. It was just like me and him in the ring and it didn’t feel like anyone was there watching. There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of atmosphere and he dealt with it just spot on.
“This test with the four flying changes is definitely a bit more than the four-star level so I’m really pleased that his changes were great today. That’s what we’ve been working really hard on over the winter, and trying to get a little bit more expression in his pace.
“He’s got so much still left to come even now, so I think he’s going to be a really exciting horse for the future so this is all about his development and getting him to where he needs to be in a few years’ time.”
Michael Jung leads after the Kentucky Three-Day Event dressage, with Yasmin one of three British competitors in the top five. Sarah Bullimore (Corouet) holds second and Pippa Funnell (Maybach) fifth.
Yasmin also explained why she chose come to Kentucky rather than Badminton this year: “In terms of the horse’s development, we wanted to bring him here – he’s probably more suited to this track.
“It’s very open and galloping with some really big wide fences and I’m so lucky that he is a brilliant jumper. He really covers the ground, he’s got so much blood and he will run for hours. So that’s the reasoning behind that one and maybe we’ll go to Badminton next year.”
Talking about her plan for tomorrow’s cross-country phase over Derek di Grazia’s course, Yasmin said: “We’ve definitely come here to try and have a good result if we can, to do our best in every phase. So plan A is to go straight and go for it.
“But obviously, we have a really lucky draw in the fact that I’m quite late on, so I can watch the first few go in the morning and make plans and decisions from there.”
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