The Mitsubishi Motors Grassroots Championships 2011at Badminton Horse Trials- BE90 Championship Miss Alexandra Farrar-fry riding DIAMOND TREFOIL winner of the BE 90 receives awards from Lance Bradley of Mitsubishi Motors It's all about to start at Badminton - one of the greatest eventing competitions in the world. Before the big guys hit the course however, the Mitsubishi Grassroots Championships is held for the up and comers of the sport. Under outstanding April sun, over 150 competitors rose to the challenge of the Mitsubishi Motors Grassroots Championships thus realising their dream of competing on the hallowed Badminton turf.This year's cross country course ran in a clock wise direction mimicking the four star route. Designed by James Willis and build by the renowned Willis Brothers, the Grassroots course took on elements of the four star track and merged them into their own course. In a field of 53 starters in the BE100 Championship the winner was Kelly Turner riding her own 'Talented Boy'. Aptly named 'Talented Boy', is a 17.1hh, 11 year old gelding by Voltaire. Kelly finished on her dressage score of 25.8. From Mill Hill, Kelly juggles being a mother of a three year old son and her passion for eventing.
In the BE90 Championship the winner, with a clear margin ahead of the next competitor, was Alexandra Farrar-Fry (20) from Drewsbury, West Yorkshire. Riding 'Diamond Trefoil' owned by Marium Haque, they finished on their dressage score of 26. Alexandra is a part time NHS nurse whilst working toward her BHS teaching qualifications. In the main CCI4* competition, 85 horses were presented in front of Badminton house at the First Horse inspection and all passed the trot up without drama. As has become tradition the riders made every effort to impress the ground jury with their sense of fashion and style - as I'm sure they will at the upcoming Melbourne 3 Day Event even though it will probably be blowing a gale and freezing cold at Werribee! England is enjoying unseasonably good weather at the moment (about 24 degrees during the day) - I was there only two weeks ago and couldn't believe that I was walking around in a T-shirt in April! Amazingly the weather is predicted to hold over the whole Easter weekend apart from the possibility of showers on cross country day (Sunday). The last time I was at Badminton for the event the weather was similar and there is nothing better than enjoying a great picnic, a few beers in the village pubs in Didmarton or at the venue and some great trade stand shopping in the English sunshine! This year the Badminton Blog has gained an extra hand on deck with Sam Watson. Anyone who reads the UK Eventer magazine will know of Sam's fun approach to the world of eventing and, as he explains, he will be commentating behind the scenes this year. You can follow the wonderful Badminton blog at http://blog.badminton-horse.co.uk/ "I’m Sam Watson and, up until last week, this was scheduled to be my third spin around what I unashamedly label The World’s Greatest Event. An uncharacteristic tumble at our last prep run and a subsequent minor injury to my top horse, Horseware Bushman, means that I have come here in an all-together different role, but one that is equally as terrifying….I have crossed over to the dark side and joined the press!! Throughout the week I will bring you Badminton from the riders’ point of view. What it takes to get here, what goes on behind the scenes, the mood and atmosphere in the lorry park and stable block, and the emotions, nerves, preparation and focus involved to be a part of this prestigious event. As promised I have had a brisk walk around the course. With any four star course it’s never usually about one particular fence, it’s the intensity of question after question which finds horses and riders out. The going will be the key factor of the final leaderboard. Expect low finishing scores, especially compared to last year where only the winner finished sub 45, and only one other was sub 50. The course will take its prisoners and if I had to pick a fence it would be the farmyard corners at fence 15ab. It’s easy just to single these out after the drama they caused last year, but despite being the other way round they appear even tougher to me. The time won’t be influential like it was 2010 so this is a definite ‘long route’ option. So what makes the fence difficult? They follow the vicarage line of fences and a demanding colt pond so the confidence bank could be flirting around the overdraft level. The phrase ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’ springs to mind. The approach is a sweeping turn so you have little time to find the very precise line through the fences. That line is also dead straight leaving no ‘wriggle room’ for adjustment. Then we have the infamous short back rails on the corners which horses ‘missed’ last year. Usually with a corner you protect against running out on the ‘point end’, but these back rails enforce 100% accuracy both left and right. Finally, we have the added question for which there is no preparation, the dreaded camera tower directly in the horses’ line of sight. As the first horse to tackle the fence will be Andrew Nicholson on the mischievous Avebury, who offended at this exact obstacle last year, could we possibly see a ‘big name’ victim at a very early stage??! There’s still a long way to go before cross country and big decisions regarding long routes won’t have been made, or at least set in stone, at this early stage. The optimum time will be gettable with a long route so expect tactics to be a major feature amongst the dressage leaders. That will all be food for thought on Saturday night and for the later riders, as the competition unfolds on Sunday. For now though it’s time for rest and a bit of shut eye. A lot of horses went down for an evening workout after the jog but they’ll all be snugly tucked in for the night by now. I’m going to follow suit so I’ll see you tomorrow, refreshed and ready for the first day of action" Like Sam, we'll be following all of the action over the coming days to bring you updates and reports so stay tuned! If you want to take a quick look at the cross country course before the big day and check out the options at fence 15ab, check out this video fly through of the course
