PrintTo win an Oscar is considered one of the highest accolades in the performing arts. To take home more than one Oscar in a lifetime is an honor bestowed on very few actors.
Had Bruce Davidson decided to take to the silver screen, there's a fair chance that his mantelpiece would be adorned with quite a few golden statuettes. Instead, the 55-year-old veteran horseman has a collection of trophies from the Rolex Kentucky CCI that now spans some 26 years. His longevity in the saddle has justifiably made him a legend in his own lifetime, and soon the Kentucky Horse Park will confer on him an honor even Hollywood couldn't match--a statue of himself with his great partner Eagle Lion, who competed at Rolex from 1992 to 2001--next spring.
Since winning the World Three-Day Event Championships at the Kentucky Horse Park in September 1978, Davidson has started on the event's course 68 times, on 30 different horses, and emerged the winner six times.
Event director Janie Atkinson has watched Davidson ride every year. "His record of six wins will probably never be broken, and I fully expect him to have a win in the four-star before he's through," she said.
The only thing he hasn't done is win Kentucky since it reached four-star status in 1998. But he's been among the top 10 riders five times in the four-star, including fourth in 2001.
"His consistency--be it winning or always placing well--has stamped him as Kentucky's leading rider," said Atkinson.
Many see Davidson as a pioneer in the sport, largely because his victory in the 1974 World Championships gave the United States the right to host the 1978 World Championships, and those championships were the impetus for the creation of the Kentucky Horse Park and the founding of what would become the Rolex Kentucky CCI.
James Wofford rode Carawich to the Kentucky victory in 1981 and, on Castlewellan, finished as runner-up to Davidson and J.J. Babu in 1983. He regards his former rival as a consummate horseman.
"I think the one thing that strikes me about Bruce's career is the enormous range of horses that he was able to produce and to win on. You couldn't get two more different horses than Might Tango and J.J. Babu," said Wofford. "That alone speaks volumes about his skills as a horseman, skills which we will now see less and less, as the classic format is run less often." Mike Etherington-Smith has been designing the Kentucky course since 1993, the year that Davidson won on Happy Talk.
"His record speaks for itself," said Etherington-Smith. "To have ridden so many different horses speaks to the versatility and skill of the man."
The course designer especially recalled one of Davidson's rides in 2002, when drenching rain soaked cross-country day, from noon on. In the morning Davidson rode High Scope to a clear round that would eventually place him fifth, and in the afternoon downpour--when most riders were scratching or retiring on course--Davidson guided Apparition to another clear round that eventually put him 14th.
"It was a master class in how to get on and just do it; it speaks volumes for him as the ultimate competitor and professional," said Etherington-Smith.
"All his success is well deserved," Etherington-Smith continued. "It's one thing to get to the top, but you need his determination and dedication to still be competitive for more than 30 years."
