Britain’s Sarah Bullimore holds second after Kentucky dressage on ‘special little horse with small man syndrome’

Sarah Bullimore holds second place for Britain at the conclusion of the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event dressage this evening (29 April).

Sarah and her home-bred Corouet – who belongs to his rider, her husband Brett and The Kew Jumping Syndicate – put in a super smart, consistent test for a mark of 25.7. Michael Jung still holds the lead on 20.1 with FischerChipmunk FRH.

Sarah said: “He’s a really special little horse and I’m chuffed to bits. I know he can still be better, but for his first five-star, it’s fantastic.

“Michael Jung made a mistake so I thought maybe we could be closer to him and this horse is so capable. He loves the atmosphere but it makes him a bit tight and he starts playing up to the crowd rather than showing off as he can.

“It’s all a learning curve. In the arena familiarisation yesterday, he didn’t want to leave the arena, so he is a showman and it’s just polishing the rough edges. It’s all there and he’s so talented.”

Sarah and Corouet took the European individual bronze medal last year.

Talking about the diminutive star’s character, Sarah said: “He is quite dominant and plays with new people – he can be territorial and look quite fierce. He has a bit of small man syndrome.”

US rider Buck Davidson now sits in third with Carlevo, a 15-year-old owned by Katherine O’Brien.

“He pretty much always delivers on the first phase,” said Buck. “I actually took a few fingers off the reins and just rode him on two fingers to keep him out [in his outline].”

With the Kentucky Three-Day Event dressage over, attention now turns to tomorrow’s cross-country over Derek di Grazia’s course.

You might also be interested in:

FischerChipmunk FRH’s ‘best test ever’ takes Kentucky dressage lead, plus Jonelle Price ‘gutted’ with her mark

‘I hope the judges don’t have a good night’s sleep!’ – leading riders react to poor dressage scores at Kentucky

‘We’ve got to get stuck in and be brave’ – Pippa Funnell and other riders’ first reactions to the Kentucky cross-country course

See the Kentucky cross-country times for the British competitors and other favourites

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Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.