William regains the lead with a masterful cross country ride
Yesterday Jock Paget was asked if he was looking forward to today’s cross country and he answered “Yes, it’s why we do this”. Today many riders experienced the thrill that comes from conquering a tough World Championship course while some will be re-living their rides and contemplating what went wrong.
Jock Paget was actually one of 10 riders who made the decision to walk home. After a run out at Fence 5 Jock decided to call it a day and re-route to Burghley, in view of the fact that Team NZ had already had a horror day with Sir Mark Todd and Tim Price being eliminated. Mark had a fall at the final water on Leonidas II and explained afterwards that, in hindsight, he may have set out a little fast
“Leonidas still had the energy to finish but he becomes a little un-reactive as he tires and so we made an unlucky mistake. You need lots of energy for the end of this course”
These words would have certainly rung true with Luhmuhlen 4* winner Tim Price who was so nearly home, only to be pulled up by officials at the second to last fence on a very tired Wesko
The day had started ominously with the first rider out, the USA’s Buck Davidson retiring Ballynoe Castle at Fence 32 with his horse just running out of steam then the second combination, Joris van Springel and Lully des Aulnes fell at Fence 30 and it looked as if the predictions of a very tough course were coming true. Lully des Aulnes was injured but an x-ray has revealed no fracture and he is now being treated for a wound on the left hind fetlock at the referral clinic
Sam Griffiths through the Land Rover Water Complex
The Australian team had already experienced problems before the day even began with Chris Burton’s TS Jamaimo colicking during the night and being withdrawn from competition, leaving only three team members. However Sam Griffiths made sure they got off to a good start as the fourth rider on course and the first rider at that point to come home with only time penalties; he finished the day in 17th place on his Badminton winner Paulank Brockagh with a score of 71.7.
Britain’s Zara Phillips and Germany’s Michael Jung both showed the way for their teams with some gutsy riding by Zara and Michael showing his usual style on the young mare who tried so hard for him. You can see our video interviews with Zara here and Michael here
Team USA suffered the same fate as New Zealand with Phillip Dutton joining Buck Davidson on the sidelines; Phillip retired Trading Aces at Fence 24 with a grim look on his face. Their other team members fared better with Boyd Martin and his relatively new ride Shamwari (produced by Ludwig Svennerstal whose horse Alexander was spun at the first horse inspection) finished today in ninth place and Lynn Symansky riding Donner in 50th place.
With Zara safely round, William Fox-Pitt looked calm and coolly determined as he set off on Chilli Morning. It was a copybook round apart from the tricky last water jump, which had been causing problems for so many combinations, but they came home clear with only 12.8 time penalties
Shortly afterwards Australia’s Bill Levett, riding Shannondale Titan (above) as an individual competitor, finished the course with 27.6 time penalties in 19th place
Oliver Townend and Black Tie were another casualty, retiring on course while New Zealand’s Lucy Jackson fell at the last water; however the interesting move of the day went to Camilla Speirs’ Portersize Just a Jiff who performed an amazing feat of agility by banking the arrowhead in the second water, staying on track and finishing the day in 22nd place.
Shane Rose (above) had no idea how Taurus, the Australian based horse who has never competed in such conditions, would react to the deep going and he was worried in the first few minutes that he may have to pull him up. However when Taurus got his second wind, Shane breathed a sigh of relief and they came home with no jumping penalties and 26.8 time. Now Australia had two team riders in contention
As Stuart Tinney and Pluto Mio set out on course the French rider Denis Mesples had a crashing fall on his horse Oregon de la Vigne. Thankfully Denis soon got to his feet after a few anxious moments and his horse was also fine but in the meantime Stuart was being held on course.
Once re-started, Stuart and Pluto (above) produced a beautiful round with possibly the best ride of the day through the final water. Initially Stuart was given 56.4 time penalties due to the hold but this was soon amended to 15.6 and he finished the day in 11th place.
Focused - Paul and Kilronan
The final team rider for Australia Paul Tapner claims that, under team orders to make sure he completed the course, he had to go so slowly that his sunglasses steamed up! Paul’s big grey horse Kilronan steadily ate up the ground but it wasn’t until after the final water that Paul flapped his arms and drove him on. They finished in 13th place on a score of 66.6 and Paul was pretty happy
Two of the New Zealand riders saved their country’s reputation with great performances – Jonelle Price and her 11 year old mare Classic Moet blitzed the course to finish with only four time penalties - the lowest of the day, bumping her up from 26th to fourth place. The very experienced combination of Andrew Nicholson and Nereo also performed very well to finish just behind Jonelle in fifth place although they had a heart stopping moment at the very last fence
Jonelle and Classic Moet show the boys how to do it
The leader after dressage, Germany’s Sandra Auffarth nearly hung on to her first place but 16.8 time penalties compared to William’s 12.8 meant that William heads into the final day in the lead
Germany leads the team competition with 177.9, Great Britain in second place on 186.8 and Australia is now in third on 226.8.
It was a good day of cross country but tinged with sadness. Wild Lone, Harry Meade’s 13 year old Irish Sport Horse, collapsed and died just after finishing the course. Harry bravely attended a press conference and made it clear that, despite his visible emotion at the loss of his horse, he felt that the condition of the ground and the terrain on today’s cross country played no part whatsoever in what happened to Wild Lone.
“He felt totally normal and perfect to me when I got off” stressed Harry, adding “He was a wonderful horse I’ve ridden since he was four years old. When he was six years old I said to my father he could be the best horse in the world and today he felt like he was”
Vale Wild Lone
