A hug for Ingrid after her test from Bettina Hoy as Chris Bartle looks on
On Friday morning at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials the German ‘red coats’ had plenty to celebrate. Bettina Hoy and Ingrid Klimke, the two lovely ladies who have proved time and time again that eventing dressage can be worth watching, moved in to the top ten with strong tests on Designer 10 and Horseware Hale Bob.
Bettina finished her test with a wide smile on board the 11 year old Westphalian gelding and was clearly delighted as she hugged the German team coach Chris Bartle, who has been instrumental in getting the German riders to compete at more international events “Chris has told us we need to get out and see the real world, that we mustn’t just hide in Germany” says Ingrid
Bettina and Designer 10 finished eighth at their first CCI4* together at Les Etoiles de Pau last year where her compatriot Ingrid had an emotional first 4* win there on Horseware Hale Bob. At Pau this pair pulled out a 39.3 – today they scored 40.2 which was not quite enough to overtake the leader Andrew Nicholson and Nereo due to a little mistake in the extended walk which Ingrid put down to Bob’s hunting experience!
“I really enjoyed the trot because he was opening up and I was really happy with his extension and shoulder-in. He felt really smooth and supple and I had a big smile on my face, I thought this is a good start and then in the walk he heard some dogs barking and I felt him startle – he has been hunting before and I was thinking “Come on Bobby, we’re not hunting, we’re doing dressage”. When we halted he put his head up as if to say “Where are they?”, then he did the rein back and as soon as he was in the canter he was totally safe again”
Ingrid, who has had Horseware Hale Bob since he was five years old and hunted him a lot as a young horse, credits draghunting with improving Bob’s balance and strength over different terrain and believes that it’s great training for all of her young horses. Handling the terrain is certainly something that will be of benefit here on cross country tomorrow and Ingrid is heading into this phase with an increased sense of confidence since her win in Pau.
“In Pau I was thinking, let’s see how we go but I wasn’t expecting to win to be honest. But there he showed me how clever he is, how fast and how bold then over the winter he has done some good dressage and show jumping so he really is feeling good and full of himself”
The test of the morning however, according to Badminton Radio’s commentators Carl Hester and Pammy Hutton (and us!), belonged to Australia’s Bill Levett. This test started superbly, drawing the comment from Carl that “This is better than anything we’ve seen so far” as Bill and Shannondale Titan moved it up a notch to score one of very few 9’s awarded during the two days but a few mistakes in the canter brought the overall mark down to 45.8. Bill was obviously disappointed but, ever the gentleman, took the time to talk us through the test that started so well
Bill Levett
The Outside Chance bar was the place to hang out at lunch time as the crowds combined dressage with another day of shopping, catching up with friends and walking the dog around the cross country with the hope of bumping into some of the eventing superstars that will be tackling it tomorrow. Straight after lunch Oliver Townend woke the judges up from their postprandial with a test on Armada that had the crowd applauding loudly as the pair left the arena (encouraged by Oliver of course!).
That test definitely deserves a kiss!
With a score of 39.6 Armada, the full brother of the leading horse Nereo, slotted into second place at that stage. Both horses were bred by Ramon Beca and, although Oliver says that Andrew ‘has the better horse’ he was really pleased with Armada today after not the best of dressage tests here last year.
“He’s getting older too so hopefully he’s starting to settle down – we thought it would take until he was 20 but it seems to have happened at 16! It’s certainly the first time at Badminton that he’s gone into the arena and felt like he’s there to do his job. In the past it’s been like sitting on eggshells but today I felt as the test progressed that I could ride him more and more and once I was in the canter I thought, okay it’s down to me now”
“If I’d have sorted myself out and pulled that out last year I would have won” he added with a wry smile
While Andrew Nicholson was still leading on the other Spanish bred horse Nereo, he had his second turn in the arena today on Calico Joe, the horse he owns himself and is known as the ‘stand-in’. Andrew was meant to be riding Avebury here at Badminton but, when Avebury had to be withdrawn, Calico Joe stepped in to currently be placed in a very handy 12th place after the dressage.
If Bill Levett was the Australian rider that caught the commentators’ eye in the morning, in the afternoon, it was Paul Tapner and Indian Mill who scored 41.9 to finish in seventh place and earn some compliments. We had a good chat with Paul on video afterwards but, due a technical malfunction (known as a dumb blonde not turning the video on properly), we’ll have to have another good chat after the cross country tomorrow!
There was palpable sense of everyone rushing back to their seats after the tea break for the crowd favourite, William Fox-Pitt riding Chilli Morning. William admitted afterwards that it hadn’t been their best test with two late changes being expensive errors, which must have been all the more galling when Chilli Morning did two perfect changes straight afterwards. However they still moved into second spot on 39, only 1.2 penalties behind Andrew and only 0.6 in front of Oliver, making it very tight at the top. Ingrid and Horseware Hale Bob are in fifth spot while Jock Paget has finished in sixth place on Clifton Lush (40.8) and Clifton Promise (41.2).
Jock’s face was wreathed in smiles as he came out of the test on Clifton Lush and when we spoke to him about this horse, just back in competition after a long injury layoff, it is clear that Jock is really happy to have him back
Andrew Hoy and Sam Griffiths, both with two horses in the competition, were two of the last combinations to ride this afternoon and we caught up with them both after their rides on Rutherglen (currently 19th on 46.4) and Happy Times (currently 25th on 47.5)
Tomorrow the riders will be tackling Giuseppe Della Chiesa’s ‘second first’ on the cross country track that runs the opposite way to last year. You can view all fences on the course in our photo gallery here and hear what Giuseppe had to say about the course today below
