Chris Burton's performances at Burghley added to his swag of FEI points
Not only has Michael Jung has kept his first place in the FEI Eventing World Rankings at the end of October but he has moved well into the lead thanks to yet more points picked up in Pau. He now leads on 643 points, well ahead of Australia’s Chris Burton on 467 points, who is up from fourth place and New Zealand’s Tim Price is now in third on 464, up from eighth place last month thanks to his podium finish in Pau
From our reckoning, Michael cannot be overtaken this season – even if Burto picked up another magic win on a catch ride at the Australian International 3 Day Event and the associated 111 points, he would not catch Michael. However it is certainly food for thought that maybe, if the points were closer, anyone chasing the number one spot should contest the final FEI Classics Series of the year in Adelaide. You would that think that both Chris and Tim would be welcomed with open arms by any owner that happened to have a qualified horse in the southern hemisphere without a rider (although Chris’ fiancée, Bek, may have some objections this year)
Ingrid Klimke is the top lady rider in seventh place (428 points) just ahead of Russian rider Aleksandr Markov who has been in the top six at 10 CCI3* events in Russia since May 2015. If you are surprised to find a Russian rider in the top ten, you might be even more surprised to find two in the top twenty with Andrey Mitin also starring in 13th place on 350 points.
The big movers of the month are, maybe not surprisingly, French. The CCI4* winner of Les Etoiles de Pau, Astier Nicolas jumps from 72nd place to just outside of the top 20 with 316 points and Karim Florent Laghouag moves from 82nd to 19th with a fifth and seventh at Pau adding considerably to his points. Australia’s Shane Rose has returned to the saddle with a vengeance after an accident which saw him out of competition for a while and has moved from 88th to 25th place
William Fox-Pitt, still recovering from his accident at Le Lion d’Angers is in hospital in France, is the top placed British rider in fourth place while Phillip Dutton is the top American rider in sixth place
