Fellow Australian Matt Ryan interviews Megan Jones on her way out of the arena
Megan Jones was the first Australian rider in the sunny arena at 10am this morning and it seemed she had brought her Australian fan club with her as she had a great round of applause and a few calls from the crowd as she finished. Megan was happy with the test “apart from one section when he did some kind of gymnastic thing that wasn’t required” which scored 45.8 to leave her in equal 14th place at the end of the day and we caught up with her straight after (CLICK HERE for the video interview with Megan).
Clayton and Waltersdown Don float across the beautiful Burghley turf Photo: Libby Law
Soon after, Clayton Fredericks took the lead from yesterday’s top rider, Ruth Edge, with his lovely test on the 10-year-old horse owned by Michael Lee, Waltersdown Don. Clayton was a little disappointed with his extended walk saying that he “kicked a bit too hard” causing a momentary jog but, with a score of 40.8 and third place, he can’t really complain. Clayton says that, after his experiences this year, he tries not to anticipate what is going to happen on cross-country day but he still sounds reasonably confident that it will suit Waltersdown Don who will be embarking on his first 4* course tomorrow.
Click here to listen to Clayton talk about his test and tomorrow's cross country
Sinead and Manoir de Carneville Photo: Libby Law
Mary King is of course always a huge favourite with the crowd and she didn’t disappoint them with a very good test on King’s Temptress to score 41.8 for 8th place. The American rider, Sinead Halpin riding Manoir de Carneville, then posted the first sub 40 test to take a convincing lead with a score of 36.3, which they kept until the end of the day, much to Sinead’s surprise.
“Being in first place is amazing in this company – it’s insane!” she said “I liked the test as I was riding and enjoyed it – the score of 36 was great but surprising.”
Paul looks pleased with 'the old man' (that's Inonothing, not Matt Ryan!)
Paul Tapner and Inonothing (Manny) were another Australian combination that suffered disappointment leading up to London 2012 but seem to have bounced back better than ever. The 16-year-old horse certainly looks extremely fit and well despite being, according to Paul, “an old man who needs to be looked after”. In the same pre-lunch session as Paul another American rider, Alison Springer riding Arthur IV, moved into 2nd place on a score 40.
Here are Paul’s thoughts about his test and more when we caught up with him afterwards.
Sam gives Happy Times a well deserved pat
After the lunch break, Sam Griffiths and Happy Times, a combination that was third here in 2009, added to the Australian riders in the top 20 with a very good score of 42 to put him in 9th place at the end of the day. For once it was a surprising combination of two USA riders and one Australian as the top three attending the press conference.
Today's press conference - and not a British rider in sight!
Who knows who will be there tomorrow evening with only 12 points separating the top 20 riders, including superstars such as Mary King (8th), William Fox-Pitt (=4th on last year’s winner Parklane Hawk and 17th on Seacookie), Oliver Townend ( 10th and 20th) and Andrew Nicholson (=4th). The words ‘big’ and ‘galloping’ are always used about Capt. Mark Phillips’ Burghley cross-country course with good reason. The course is beautifully prepared and the ground feels springy underfoot with today’s sun and light wind helping to dry out any wet patches from yesterday’s rain. The high-speed action over some very big fences starts tomorrow at 11am with the first Australian combination, Bill Levett and Hippolyte (currently in 26th place), on course at 12:32.
Out on course yesterday we met Dr. James Sadler who will be the doctor in attendance at the Leaf Pit fence - a huge drop seen behind James. I think he was a bit amazed at what the riders would be doing!
And today we bumped into NZ rider and AEL blogger Clarke Johnstone and his mum, Jean. Looking forward to your next blog, Clarke!
For today's photo gallery CLICK HERE.
To view all of the dressage tests visit BurghleyTV.
