Harry Meade on dramatic Kentucky moment: ‘I saw the fishes and tried my hardest not to join them’

Harry Meade made a dramatic save on the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event cross-country today (25 April) with Superstition, moving up from 10th after dressage to eighth.

“I momentarily saw the fish looking up at me. I hate swimming, so I tried my hardest not to join them,” said Harry of his incredible save, which came after Superstition took off from well away from the corner at the Spring Water (fence 12abc) and pecked badly on landing, throwing the rider well forward.

Harry’s round on Superstition, who belongs to his rider and Mandy Gray, started with a different drama when the starter made an error with his countdown.

“But she said to my team, that was my mistake, talking about herself, so hopefully that won’t be a problem,” said Harry after his round.

“Superstition gave me a great first half. Then he jumped into the second water a little bit steeper than I hoped, which meant he was quite a long way off the corner and so just landed on the back of it, and had a little bit of a stumble.

“I was conscious from that point of just trying to get him taking me into the rein again. Through the quarry [Pete’s Hollow], he was good, but again, was a little bit empty in the rein.

“And so for that reason, when I jumped into the Defender Head of the Lake, although I planned to go straight through when I jumped the first of the two brushes, I could feel him again a little bit empty down the rein, so I just pulled right and did the long route. It wasn’t intended, but it was better than it might have been if I’d carried on and hadn’t reacted.

“He then gave me a good ride the rest of the way home. I just gave him time in front of a couple of the bigger, squarer fences and at the last combination – I just wasted a couple of seconds there, just to allow him to catch his breath, keep his focus, and jump that out of a very relaxed rhythm.”

Harry finished with six time-faults on Superstition to move up from 10th after dressage to eighth overnight.

Harry Meade and Grafennacht’s Kentucky Three-Day Event cross-country round

Harry ended up taking a couple of long routes with his second ride, Amanda Gould’s Grafennacht, and slipped from eighth to equal 11th after cross-country with 11.6 time-faults.

“She was game, travelling really well, ears pricked and was taking me, looking for the fences. The first part of the course was great, though I saw a front shoe fly off after fence seven,” said Harry, adding the mare wears pads on her shoes.

Coming to the log drop at Pete’s Hollow (fence 14abc), Harry said he approached as slow as he dared.

He explained: “I had no power, no pace, as I wanted her to step over the log to try and get the four strides to the first triple brush arrowhead – and she just went on three. Going on three meant she jumped forward and flat, so the turn to the second arrowhead wasn’t going to happen.

“So I had to think quickly and turn right and jump the long route. You’re already working hard to stay on the pace and immediately that put us however many seconds behind.”

Harry said the mare’s other shoe came off as he jumped the second of the two brushes at the EEI Root Cellar (fence 15abc), but it didn’t affect her.

His second long route came at the Defender Head of the Lake, where he ended up circling between the two angled brushes (fences 18b and 19a).

He explained why he took the long route: “She’s a horse that is a slight diesel engine in her mind – when she can see what she’s doing, she’s got her ears pricked, she’s really game and will try her heart out. If she’s not that sure, she can be a little bit vacant. And I felt jumping that first one, I didn’t feel her mind was drawing down the corridor.”

Harry said the mare finished full of running and “not remotely fatigued”.

“Five-star comes up with different questions each time”

Summing up the day, Harry said: “Of all Derek di Grazia’s courses I’ve ridden around, this one was definitely the most stop-start and possibly trappy.

“The horses were having to jump and then they were almost dropping the bridle and unsure where they were going, and that took away some of the forward draw. There weren’t that many combinations where you had a really difficult line with things in front of you and that made it hard to stay on the pace.

“But that’s what five-star is and it comes up with slightly different questions each time. It’s got a great result today and it’s been really good that the time is hard to make.”

The other British riders had mixed fortunes today, with David Doel ending up the best-placed in fourth overnight. 

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