The surroundings were perfect, the weather incredible, the course impressive and the horses were simply stunning.
I can’t say much more than that, but I will anyway!
John, Niki, Thomas (Niki’s son) and I set off with enough time to allow for the inevitable traffic jam driving into Badminton. Over 250,000 people descend on the area and the organisation required to make sure things go smoothly must be astonishing. I am in no hurry whatsoever to volunteer on that committee.
We made sure we made it into the main arena to watch the heats and final of the Shetland pony grand national. Those jockeys (aged 6-14) are really determined, and the ponies hilarious, they got so excited! It was very entertaining and something that I’d love to see on the programme at events in Australia (Note here from Deb, Kate. Wandin Horse Trials, Victoria runs one during its CIC event in March and it's great!)
Shortly after that we headed out on course to walk our way around. There was a big dray at the quarry that we stood up on, giving a great view of the jump. Jock Paget went through like the pro he is. Next viewing location was the iconic Huntsman's Close, which while being massive, and with acute angles, rode really well. Mind you it was Mary King, Michael Jung, WFP and Caroline Powell so in some ways isn’t all that surprising.
Following on around the course from that was the famous lake. I found a spot in the stand so that I could also see the big screen showing Badminton TV. The sun was out well and truly by that stage, and I even peeled one outer layer off. The English are made of sterner stuff than me; they had t-shirts on, whereas I was still in my trusty thermals. I would’ve been happy to sit there all day, but I really felt it’s not every day you get to walk around a 4* event. If I wanted to watch it on screen, I could’ve paid for FEITV. I stayed to watch Burto through the water, and then headed off further down the course.
It really is so impressive, the horses are just so talented and brave and the riders slightly nuts to be riding over such a massive track. That said, it all seemed to ride so very well. At one point I thought, gee there haven’t been many falls at all and then, what do you know, there was a fall right in front of me. That dealt with that then. I made my way into the main arena, to see horses setting off and others finishing. The cheers from the crowd were deafening. Especially when WFP entered the arena to finish under time - the crowds really do love him. What was slightly amusing was that as he finished, Andrew Nicholson was starting, and he mentioned later in the press conference that it lit the horse's turbo and took until about fence 5 to settle down.
Stand out performances in my book were from Jock Paget on both his rides, he’s a talented Kiwi! Also deserving a mention was Michael Jung, he does know his stuff. What is also staggering is the numbers of spectators. There were people everywhere. Hundreds and hundreds of people. Most of them wearing tweed. And Dubarry boots. With their dogs.
Once the XC was over I made the fatal mistake of trying to walk against the flow of foot traffic. Big mistake, don’t try that.
For full results from the event, head over to the Badminton website - they’ve got real journalists on the job! But I can tell you that it’s close, and that there are more Kiwis and Aussies than any other nation in the top 10!
On Radio Badminton, we were advised that traffic leaving the venue was bad, so we headed over to the lake, and had a drink there with a burger (they sold out of Pimms can you believe it?). What a stunning backdrop with dogs running around, the odd child swimming in the lake and more people in tweed drinking a lot of alcohol. We left Badminton one and a half hours ago, and we’ve driven about 8 miles. I think I could’ve run faster than that.
We are now back in Devon at Niki’s place, after a three journey, I’m tired, so night night all, we’ve got an exciting day tomorrow.
Kate
