FENCE 7-ABC: Hedge-Stride-Hedge-Bounce-Hedge
It is cross country day at the 2013 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials and the course looks fantastic. Hugh Thomas has put together a challenging track that is sure to test all riders who enter the start box in the coming hours. Here at the Badminton Media Centre we are pretty spoilt. I had the tough job of being chauffer driven around the course in a brand new Mitsubishi yesterday (while even the riders had to walk it in the rain!).
The course has received mixed reviews from the riders but the general consensus is that it is going to be tough. Andrew Nicholson is in the running for the Rolex Grand Slam but for now he is taking one phase at a time. “I’m just focused on winning Badminton and if I can do that the grand slam will fall into place,” he said. The Kiwi is a cross country master and with two horses to get around the course today, he will certainly be one to watch.
“I think Hugh has done a very good job, I think it’s difficult enough. I thought the start of it was a little soft than in other years but then by the second or third time round today I thought perhaps I was a bit misled.”
Meanwhile, here's what his rival William Fox-Pitt thinks
Sam Griffiths has been around Badminton a few times now with much success and he will also have two rides today. “I think it will be a real test to the horse and rider, there’s a whole host of jumps out there that have me a bit nervous but I’ve got a horse that’s done it a couple of times before so I’m as confident as I can be before I’m actually doing it,” he said.
We have been blessed with the weather this year and that has made the ground ideal for some super rounds. “This year being dry and fast going I think that time will be quite achievable,” Sam says. However it is impossible to predict how it will ride until there are horses out on course. “Badminton is a course that you can’t take anything for granted right till the end.”
Quietly confident ..... Photo: Jane Thompson
Another combination definitely worth watching are Chris Burton and Holstein Park Leilani. Chris is quietly confident that his mare will be up to the challenge. “When she was in Australia and I first sat on her, I said this is a Badminton horse so I hope I’m not jinxing myself,” he laughed. That is not to say that it will not be a challenge and Chris has full respect for the course. “It’s Badminton. It’s big and it’s scary. It’s accumulative; I think it gets to them after a while. There’s complex after complex and then the second half I find very daunting and a little bit tiring on them and on us and I can see a lot of problems will be happening.”
2010 Badminton winner Paul Tapner agrees that the course is going to cause some combinations problems. “I think some of the distances and some of the terrain and some the positioning of the fences is quite clever from Hugh and I think there’ll be a lot of penalties spread around the course,” he said.
If you’re lucky enough to be at Badminton or are able to watch it then you are in for a real treat. If not, we’ll be posting regular updates and of course Libby Law will be capturing all the action which will be available for viewing in our gallery later, but here are some more views of the riders thanks to FEI TV (don't forget you can watch all of the XC on TV in the UK and online elsewhere)
Click here for Saturday's photo gallery with cross country fences
