Scandalous indeed!

USA’s Marilyn Little and RF Scandalous have stolen the overnight lead at the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event (LRK3DE)—aka, “not Rolex”—from perennial favorite Michael Jung of Germany!

Logging a mere 24.8 penalties in Friday’s dressage test, they now sit more than two points ahead of Jung’s 27.1 going into Saturday’s cross country phase.

“She gave me a great ride today,” said Little, of Frederick, MD.

“She was a little bit excited with the Friday afternoon atmosphere, which we are familiar with at Kentucky. I was excited to go on Friday afternoon and knew she could handle it well. She was very businesslike, and it was a great ride. She was looking to please and she did her job.”

Like her German counterpart, Little and the 13-year-old Oldenburg mare come into Kentucky’s four-star event riding a wave of recent successes. The pair finished fourth in the CIC3* test event for the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon earlier this month, logging a personal best dressage score of 24.2 penalties. They also won the CIC3* in Tallahassee, FL in March.

“She’s been with me for a while, but she’s changed so much,” said Little of the horse that helped her capture double gold medals at the 2015 Pan American Games.

“I knew she was capable of putting in a great test today. She’s been steadily improving. We haven’t competed much because we’ve been focusing on training, but I thought if she had a personal best she could be on top today.”

In addition to taking the lead at Not Rolex, Little also currently tops the Land Rover/USEF CCI4* National Championship and will contest this evening’s CSI3* $35,000 1.45m FEI ranking class with Clearwater.

Australia’s Christopher Burton and Nobilis 18 have moved into third on the standings with 27.9 penalties.