Ruth Edge and Two Thyme lead after the dressage. Photo courtesy Misubishi Motors/Kit Houghton
Another beautiful day at Badminton with riders now wondering if the hot weather and hard ground will play a big factor on Sunday – makes a change from a deluge on cross country day causing the standings to change dramatically! Bruce (Buck) Davidson Jr. was one of the first riders on riding Ballynoe Castle RM. Buck aged 35 is the son of US eventing legend Bruce Davidson Snr. who is a former winner at Badminton. However he was not the only child of a former winner competing at Badminton 2011 as another competitor, Harry Meade is the son of Richard Meade who won on The Poacher in 1970 and Speculator III in 1982. Paul Tapner was up early this morning with a comment on Twitter “Out of bed at 5:30 this morning, yuk, who’s responsible for giving me this early dressage time”. I’m glad that even the big boys hate early times. He was on at 9:40am riding Kilfinnie II, his only horse competing here this year. Paul’s winning horse last year Inonothing who was injured at the WEG in Kentucky is still not in action, but Kilfinnie is a horse with good CCI4* form. As he was warming up, onlookers observed that Paul and Kilfinnie looked very supple, loose, composed and confident – can’t be too bad riding early then! British dressage superstar Carl Hester, who was providing excellent commentary for Badminton Radio, commented that Kilfinnie, owned by Sue White, did an excellent move off from the first halt but does not have a fancy medium trot. He produced good shoulder-in, had a good continuous bend through the movements and Paul rode all of the movements rode cleverly and evenly. Although the marks were not very high, Paul obviously produced an accurate and sympathetic test but Kilfinnie didn’t impress enough to threaten the leaders. Paul was interviewed after the test and was not happy with the performance and a score of 51.3, knowing that the horse and he can do better. In view of the earlier comments, it was interesting that he said he wished that the judges could have marked the test he did in the warm-up! He finished the day well off the pace in =36th position.
Oliver Townend and Ashlee Cruise Master photo Mitsubishi Motors/Kit Houghton
As the first horses were doing their tests, the news was that Pippa Funnell had withdrawn her second horse, the young but very talented Redesigned due to a soundness problem. It was then announced that another combination that the Brits had high hopes for, Miner’s Frolic and Tina Cook had also withdrawn due to an infected insect bite on the withers (lucky it’s not in the US, I can feel a lawsuit coming on!) Australian Sam Griffiths and his Kentucky WEG horse, Happy Times were also on during the first morning session. Carl noted that Sam is a “Good rider with a good horse, capable of doing a good test. It is a very nice uphill horse with good muscular development” However a bit of tension and a break on the circle held back the marks early in the test until the second part of the test when the marks started to improve. A brave extended canter and good flying changes also helped to bring the marks up as Sam kept his cool, resulting in a score of 46.3 leaving him in 21st place at the end of the day. Just as an aside here, we mentioned Sharon Ridgeway in yesterday’s blog – Sharon took over the ride on Olivia Bunn’s wonderful Athens Olympics and Jerez WEG horse, GV Top of the Line (Carlo). More recently the ride on the now nineteen year old Carlo was given to Sam Griffith’s niece Nina, the 11 year old daughter of Mark and Vanessa Griffiths, both well known riders in their own right. Sharon told me recently that it is one of the cutest sights in the world to watch 11 year old Nina and 19 year old Carlo together –she may struggle to get on him and needs a big milk crate but once on, they have a ball! Lucky girl – maybe she’ll follow in Uncle Sam’s footsteps!
Emily Baldwin and Drivetime photo courtesy Mitsubishi Motors/Kit Houghton
After the break Emily Baldwin and Drivetime break through to challenge the leaders. Drivetime has some real capability in the extended work and pulls in the marks to produce 39.7 to propel them up the leader board and see them finish in fifth place. Andreas Ostholt (GER) riding Franco Jeas and Selana O’Hanlon (CAN) on Colombo also pulled out some good work to finish in =15th and =10th place respectively. Then some of the big guns came out with dressage specialists Ruth Edge and Lucinda Fredericks plus the US favourite, Karen O’Connor on Mandiba who pulled off a nice consistent test without any huge highlights but no problems either resulting in a good score of 44.5 to be on an equal score with Andreas Ostholt. Ruth Edge on Two Thyme was touted as the real threat to Laura Collett’s lead and her test proved to be a stunner. Two Thyme is a rare eventing horse that looks at ease and comfortable in the dressage phase with great rhythm and consistency. Unfortunately the rein back lets her down but there was lots of excellent work – just enough to overtake Laura. Ruth finishes on 33.3 and finally there is a new leader! Australian rider Lucinda Fredericks, who triumphed in 2007, made it to the starting post from the waitlist with the mare Prada. Lucinda made a quick entrance into the arena fearing being over the time and had the mare uphill and full of impulsion. The walk work showed some tension and there were some other minor problems but a good test overall scoring 46.2, leaving her in 20th place, just ahead of Aussie compatriot Sam Griffiths. Despite the fact that Pippa Funnell’s second horse and Tina Cook’s Miner’s Frolic were out, the Brits then had some good tests from Nicola Wilson on Opposition Buzz, Oliver Townend on Ashdale Cruise Master and Piggy French and Jakata. Last year the 28-year-old Yorkshireman was unable to defend his 2009 Badminton title as he was recovering from a fall from Ashdale Cruise Master while attempting to complete the £230,000 Rolex Grand Slam in Kentucky but this year he produced a very good test to score 40.5 which left him in 7th place at the end of the day.
Mark Todd and NZB Land Vision photo courtsey Mitsubishi Motors/Kit Houghton
Piggy French zoomed into second place and produced the first 10 of the day on Jakata. Happily hugging her horse’s neck she smiled and waved as she left the arena – she knew she had done a good test and now goes in to the cross country phase just 2.7 points behind the leader. Andrew Nicholson’s test on Nereo was eagerly anticipated but it seemed a little ragged in places and he finished just out of the top ten in 14th place. The other New Zealander currently on top form, the master Mark Todd did a very good test on the fairly inexperienced horse NZB Land Vision to take third place. Toddy has won here three times – in 1980 on Southern Comfort, 1994 on Horton Point and 1996 on Bertie Blunt. Can he do it again? We’ll find out in the next two days! Riders have been assessing Hugh Thomas’s Cross-Country course, where it will be interesting to see how some of last year’s most testing accuracy fences, such as the HSBC FEI Classics™ Corral (fences 7-8), the Colt Pond (14ab) and the open corners at the HS1 Farmyard (15), work when jumped in a clockwise direction. All the riders know they can never underestimate the enormity of the occasion on Cross-Country day at the world’s oldest CCI, when vast cheering crowds line the tracks, especially around the iconic Lake fences. The track runs clockwise - it is reversed every year - and the 2006 winner Andrew Hoy (AUS), who has had a preview walk around, has given one combination, the sharply angled Charisma Pond, 10 out of 10 for difficulty. This is followed by a set of open corners, which were highly influential last year, and there’s a tricky new angled bounce combination in the wood at Huntsman’s Close. “The course follows the pattern of high-action clusters of obstacles interspersed with imposing but less technical questions and, as ever, the Mitsubishi Motors Trophy will take a lot of winning,” comments Hugh Thomas. Dressage marks may prove influential. Andrew Nicholson, who says he is unworried by being the first to go cross country on Avebury, predicts that the fast going will result in a large number of rounds inside the optimum time. Work is ongoing on the footing, as Badminton continues to be bathed in unseasonably hot sunshine, with watering and vertical spiking to loosen the earth. The top 10 riders will carry forward points in the HSBC FEI Classics™ and, with the season’s best three results counting towards a final score, tactics will come into play - the likes of Todd, King, Townend and Fox-Pitt all have horses en route for the second leg, the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, which takes place Thursday 28 April - Sunday 1 May. Click below to hear Sam Griffiths talk about his test on Happy Times Sat AM - Sam Griffiths
