Lexington, Ky. – April 26

Sixty horses presented at the first jog for the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event with all but one passing. Colleen Rutlege and Covert Rights were sent to the holding box and chose not to re-present, withdrawing from the competition.

Holly Payne Caravella’s Never Outfoxed was quite fresh on the jog strip and was asked to jog again. They passed after the second trip down the lane. Jordan Linstedt’s Revitavet Capato was held and passed upon reinspection.

The jog is always a fun opportunity to see the riders in fancy regular human clothes, and we asked a few of the competitors about the origin of their outfits!

Jessica Phoenix and Pavarotti. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Jessica Phoenix and A Little Romance, Pavarotti and Bentley’s Best 

Phoenix’s dress is courtesy of a Macy’s purchase made last week, but the boots have more of a history.

“These cowboy boots I got while we were on vacation in Vegas like four years ago,” Phoenix said.

Joe Meyer and Clip Clop. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Joe Meyer and Clip Clop 

Meyer had some big shoes to fill after his jog outfit last year—the New Zealand rider turned heads with a full kilt. This year, he went with a more local theme.

“Theresa Foote, Clip Clop’s owner, picked it out for me,” Meyer said. “She said you have to have something different from your kilt, so this is like my Kentucky race-going outfit!”

Will Coleman and OBOS O’Reilly. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Will Coleman and Tight Lines and OBOS O’Reilly

Coleman is all about going green with his outfit.

“The bowtie was a gift from my brother; we had to wear it for his wedding, so I decided to recycle it,” Coleman said. As for the rest of the clothes? “Just whatever was clean!”

Katie Ruppel and Houdini. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Katie Ruppel and Houdini

All credit goes to Ruppel’s fashion-forward groom, Mackenzie Spaces, for her smart outfit. She found it on a resale website.

“It’s Lilly Pulitzer, and I got it on a website called PoshMark. My groom turned me on to it,” Ruppel said. “She’s real fashionable and looks nice all the time, and I don’t!”

PoshMark is a resale website, so Ruppel is giving the garment a new life for the jog.

“It’s awesome, and it was 50 bucks. I got this whole outfit for like 100 bucks,” Ruppel said.

Lillian Heard and LCC Barnaby. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Lillian Heard and Share Option and LCC Barnaby 

Chalk Heard up as another win for Amazon.

“I’m a new and very excited Amazon Prime member. You can order everything, and get it two days later!” Heard said, with a laugh and some wonderment at the marvels of modern technology. “So last week I was like, ‘OK, I need to find a jog outfit. I don’t want to go to the store. I need to ride horses.’ And I thought, ‘I’m going on Amazon Prime.’ ”

Heard actually already had the dress from Modcloth, so she found the fascinator on Amazon to match it.

“There were like 400 different fascinators. It took me forever to pick,” Heard said with a laugh.

Courtney Cooper and Who’s A Star. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Courtney Cooper and Who’s A Star 

Amazon should probably sponsor some riders, because Cooper was not the only one at the jog who had the online retailer to thank for her outfit.

“I Googled dress for people, dress for human at jog,” Cooper said with a laugh. “And we found this! It arrived last Friday, and as you may know from my Chronicle blog, I got my shoes yesterday!”

Selena O’Hanlon and Foxwood High. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Selena O’Hanlon and Foxwood High 

O’Hanlon has the good fortune of a sponsor for her jog outfits—a local boutique called House Of Angelis in Kingston, Ontario, who has dressed her for the Rolex jog for the past four years.

“They are amazing. The very first day I walked in and met them, I told them we do a jog when it’s cold in the morning and in the afternoon when its warmer, and there is a cocktail party that’s kind of black tie, and they looked me up and down, picked a jacket and shirt and pants off the rack, and everything was perfect and fit,” O’Hanlon said. “They know their job, because I have really skinny legs and huge feet, and everything fit!”

An unplanned accessory of sorts were some nasty scrapes on O’Hanlon’s arms courtesy of an over-zealous Rottweiler puppy named King Tut.

“I was walking from the house to the trailer, and he was on his rope, and I got clotheslined,” O’Hanlon said with a laugh. “I landed on my arm, I won’t show you my tushy, but my SI joint is bruised, and what’s the first thing I said? ‘I’m going to look terrible in my jog outfit!’ ”

Allie Sacksen and Sparrow’s Nio. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Allie Sacksen and Sparrow’s Nio 

You know those annoying ads on Facebook that are almost creepy in how they cater to you thanks to web cookies? Well Sacksen has one of those ads to thank for her killer Rolex outfit.

“I saw RedDress.com on Facebook, and I said, ‘I need a jog outfit!’” Sacksen said. “I looked through their stuff and found this, and it was cheap, and I got the fascinator on Amazon.”

Daniela Moguel and Cecelia. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Daniela Moguel and Cecelia

Some riders opt for the bargain bin, but not Moguel—her suit was a gift from a student and commissioned from a high fashion designer.

“It’s a designer in Mexico that’s very famous, Armando Mafud,” Moguel said. “A student of mine asked him to do the outfit for me, so I sent him pictures of the jog strip, and he designed it and sent it, and we got it two days ago. I love it. I love the bright colors!”

Jenny Caras and Fernhill Fortitude. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Jenny Caras and Fernhill Fortitude 

This is Caras’ first time competing at Rolex, and she has a special good luck charm she’ll be wearing when she tackles the courses.

“My good friend is Lee Lee [Jones], so I’m wearing her bracelet the whole weekend,” Caras said. Jones, Phillip Dutton’s stepdaughter, is recovering from a serious riding fall. “My jacket is blue like the bracelets too, so hopefully she brings us some good luck.”

Liz Halliday-Sharp and Fernhill By Night. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Halliday-Sharp subscribed to a “Shoes first, dress second” method of finding her jog outfit. The boots are from her sponsor Fairfax And Favor, a British footwear company, and she matched the dress to the red exchangeable tassels on the boots.

“I got this at Ross Dress For Less!” Halliday-Sharp said with a laugh. The price? Fourteen dollars!

Jennifer McFall and High Times. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Jennifer McFall and High Times 

McFall’s dress has been waiting in the wings for her to wear it since last year.

“I got it for last year’s jog, but he ended up getting a little pasture injury so we couldn’t come,” McFall said. “So it’s been waiting in my closet with the tags on it from Banana Republic since last year.”

Some riders opt for fanciful footwear to pair with their jog outfit, but not McFall.

“I have to be fast to keep up with him,” McFall said. “On the way home especially he extends, and it’s like, ‘Oh God, if I’m in even a tiny heel I’m going to fall on my face.’ ”

Bobby Meyerhoff and Dunlavin’s Token. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Bobby Meyerhoff and Dunlavin’s Token 

 Meyerhoff picked out the various pieces of his outfit from Express, and his wife Danica helped him arrange the final look. Meyerhoff wasn’t sure he’d even get to jog down the strip for Rolex—he had a bad fall while cross-country schooling just over a week ago where he fractured two ribs and collapsed his right lung, but the lung is back to 100 percent, and the ribs are manageable.

“I’m feeling OK. I didn’t know how I would feel coming up, but I feel better than I thought I would,” Meyerhoff said. “I healed up pretty quickly, which I’m happy about.”

It’s the 17-year-old gelding Dunlavin’s Token’s last appearance at the upper levels of eventing before he retires to the lower levels.

Andrea Baxter and Indy 500. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Andrea Baxter and Indy 500

Baxter traveled all the way from California with Indy 500, and this year they figured out what the mare likes—traveling in style.

“She has not traveled the greatest before; we would drive, but she did well this time when we flew,” Baxter said, who flew in the plane with the mare. “It was awesome. It was three hours. I was in Lexington before my friend was home from dropping me off from the airport.”

Baxter’s jog outfit is a collection of pieces she already had in the closet, including the jacket, which she was given by Gina Miles.

Rachel McDonough and Irish Rhythm. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Rachel McDonough and Irish Rhythm 

McDonough has a tradition for finding her Rolex jog outfit.

“Every year I’ve come to Rolex I have bought a dress in Lexington at White House Black Market,” McDonough said. “It’s my favorite dress store. They always have nice stuff, and this was on sale!”

Accessories included shoes from her own closet, bracelets gifted by her best friend, and a tattoo on her forearm matching Irish Rhythm’s lip tattoo.

Savannah Fulton and Captain Jack. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Savannah Fulton and Captain Jack

It’s not every Rolex rider who has a stylist flying in for the weekend, but Rolex rookie Savannah Fulton got lucky—her childhood friend Casey Muller studies fashion at Kent State University (Ohio) and flew in to dress and cheer Fulton on.

“She picked out everything, all the accessories too!” Fulton said.

Holly Jacks-Smither and More Inspiration. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Holly Jacks-Smither and More Inspiration

Jacks-Smither’s bright-colored dress originated on the wall of artist Linda Ballantine Brown’s studio. The Ocala, Fla.-based painter is the artist behind the painted horse statues found throughout Ocala and has sponsored Jacks-Smither’s jog outfits for the past five years. She takes the images she paints on canvas and prints them on fabric to have sewn into dresses. As for the accessories?

“The cowboy boots are my mom’s old boots, and my husband bought me the hat!” Jacks-Smither said.

Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST

It’s the burning question on everyone’s mind—who is Michael Jung wearing in the Rolex jog? Fear not, we have the answer.

“The suit is from Mr. Ben’s. It’s a company close to our town [in Germany],” Jung said.

The tie Jung thinks was a gift, and it features tiny horses and mopeds—Jung says he owns the full size version of both!

Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Kim Severson and Cooley Cross Border

This three-time Rolex winner wasted no time shedding her shoes after the jog.

“They hurt!” Severson with a laugh.

Severson’s dress is a White House Black Market purchase, but her necklace is near and dear to her heart.

“These are my mother’s pearls,” Severson said.

Also featured on Severson’s wrist? One of the three Rolex watches shes won.

Hannah Sue Burnett and Under Suspection. Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Hannah Sue Burnett and Under Suspection

Kentucky native Burnett looked Kentucky Derby-ready coming down the jog strip, and she had a tip for fellow joggers in dressed.

“I was trying the dress on, and I noticed they forgot to take off the little tag at the bottom, which makes me look like a shoplifter, but I’m not!” Burnett said with a laugh. Jim Wolf said ‘That’s great, just tell people to put weights at the bottom of their skirts.’ So yeah, it was on purpose!”

Sharon White and Cooley On Show (chatting with a member of the ground jury). Photo by Lindsay Berreth.

Sharon White and Cooley On Show 

White may get the prize for latest outfit arrangement—she didn’t know what she was going to wear for the jog until 20 minutes before it started!

“The jog outfit was very stressful,” White said with a laugh. “I had lots of different options, but I was super comfortable in this so I picked this!”

Known for her bright barn colors, White snuck in her ode to orange with a hair clip.