Fox-Pitt Wears Rolex Crown
By Staff Report April 29, 2012
William Fox-Pitt collects his second Rolex win, with Parklane Hawk.
With a single rail down in the show jumping ring, William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk of Great Britain won the 2012 Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event on April 30. The USA claimed second and third, with Allison Springer and Arthur and Boyd Martin and Otis Barbotiere propelled into third on the strength of a clear show-jumping round.
New Zealand’s Jonathan Paget and Clifton Promise, who went into the show jumping phase in third place, dropped rails at two fences and fell to fifth, behind the USA’s Karen O’Connor’s and Mr. Mendicott, fourth, and William Coleman and Twizzle, fifth.
In addition to the signature gold Rolex watch, Fox-Pitt takes home $80,000 for the 45.3 win, his second in three years at this event. Springer’s (47.0) second earned $37,000, and Martin’s third (51.0) $30,000. Martin also finished eighth on Remington XXV (56.9).
While O’Connor and Martin are mainstays of the U.S.’s high performance eventing teams, Springer, 37, and Coleman, 29, are rising stars, getting a close look from 2012 Summer Olympics assessors. Springer was an alternate at the 2010 World Equestrian Games, but has never ridden for the U.S. internationally.
The VA-based Coleman trains at the Tivoli Farm and Empress Hill stables, both in the Gordonsville area. Raised in a riding family, he was in the saddle at age 4 and has enjoyed tremendous success, winning the 2001 North American Young Riders Championship, the U.K.’s Bramham CCI3* in 2003. He was shortlisted for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece, but fell out of the running when his horse got injured.
Of the 73 horse and rider teams that entered the Kentucky Rolex only 57 started, and of those only 27 made it through the show jumping phase to complete the event.
The Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event presented by Bridgestone is staged by Equestrian Events, Inc. (EEI) a KY-based non-profit corporation formed in 1975 to stage the 1978 World Three-Day Event Championships at what was then a brand new Kentucky Horse Park. Rolex Watch USA came in as a title sponsor of the event and the U.S. eventing team in 1981.
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