Jock managed to remove the whole hat from his head this year
The phrase ‘it isn’t a dressage competition’ is frequently used in eventing articles but after two days of 4* dressage at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials it starts to feel that way. By this afternoon, the tension was mounting as everyone expectantly waited to see who will head off on tomorrow’s cross country course in the lead and, with two of the favourites, Jock Paget and Andrew Nicholson going late in the day, the punters were kept in their seats until the very last rider. When I say punters, I mean it literally as the bookmakers are doing a good trade as the public try to guess who will win this year’s event.
Currently the bookmaker is offering 4 to 1 for Jock while he recommended Sam Griffiths at 12 to 1 as a good bet and Kevin McNab at 14 to 1 so I may very well have a little flutter tomorrow. I can’t wait until that idea takes hold in Australia – eventing might finally become a household sport.
Lanfranco is terribly talented but a bit tricky ................. luckily Bettina has a fatastic seat
There were plenty of good tests today plus some drama with Bettina Hoy retiring during her test on the super talented but very temperamental Lanfranco TSF. It was possibly unfortunate that Bettina was scheduled straight after lunch as the crowd was settling back in their seats for what potentially could have been a very good test; Lanfranco took one look at the crowd coming back in the stands and decided to go back to the warm-up arena.
Despite being obviously ready to explode there were flashes of brilliance in the early part of the test but even Bettina couldn’t hold it together and chose to retire when Lanfranco finally started to rear in the test. It is a real shame as the combination has been going well recently but no doubt Bettina will regroup and return.
Kevin McNab was the first Australian rider in the arena today riding Clifton Pinot (above) apparently for New Zealand, according to the commentator. News to us! We spoke to Kevin after his test and he confirmed that this most certainly is not the case (they have quite enough good riders of their own without pinching ones from Australia) but that he and Emma will be based in the UK in the lead up to Rio.
Emma Dougall and Kevin's team apply the finishing touches just before he goes in for his test
Debbie Higgs talks to Kevin McNab after dressage
Another Australian Sam Griffiths has a busy schedule here with not only two horses in the CCI 4* but also the five year old Paulank Kings River in today’s Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse Final. Sam and Happy Times had a little glitch at the start as Sam explains in our chat afterwards but they still put together a lovely test to leave them in equal 13th at the end of the day on 46.3.
The 2011 winners William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk raised a cheer from the patriotic crowd when he told interviewer Matt Ryan that they would be trying their best to win again this year. The next rider in, slightly less well-known than WFP, Simon Grieve riding Cornacrew, was circling the arena as the cheer went up and he jokingly acknowledged the crowd’s applause. Simon has had a difficult year, having been seriously ill earlier this year, so probably deserved the applause in his own right for simply being at Burghley this year. William put in a very good test to finish in fourth place on 41.50 and is certainly going to be a force to be reckoned with while Simon and Cornacrew are a little further down the field in 55th place but we hope they enjoy a great ride on cross country tomorrow
Another combination to get the crowd excited was Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz (above). They produced a very consistent test and are a partnership that is likely to have a cracking cross country round. Currently lying in ninth place on 43.3, they are joined by British riders Tina Cook on De Novo News in eighth (43.2) and Oliver Townend on Armada in tenth (43.70) which will give the British supporters plenty to cheer for tomorrow. Tina was quite emotional after her ride on De Novo News, a horse she has bred from the mare, Douce de Longvaut, which she rode here at Burghley in 2002. When told that she had scored a 10 for one of her halts (as did Jock Paget today and Ingrid Klimke yesterday) she said “Blimey, did I? I must admit I’m welling up just riding this horse here”
However at the end of the day, as has been happening often recently, it was a New Zealand rider in pole position. Jock Paget’s ride on the New Zealand thoroughbred Clifton Promise quite rightly pleased all of the judges in a great test towards the end of the day, scoring 36.7 and putting him 2.3 penalty points ahead of Ingrid Klimke. The last rider to go, Andrew Nicholson riding Nereo finished in third place on Nereo (41.3) and seventh on Avebury (42.3) but, with only 10 points separating the top ten, it will be an open field on a very tough cross country course tomorrow
We’ll let Jock and Andrew themselves tell you about their day and what they are expecting tomorrow. Jock says his plan for cross country has not yet been finalised whereupon Andrew quips that he’s probably waiting for a bit of advice from him – always a fun press conference with Andrew there!
Watch the riders' dressage tests on BurghleyTV
