William Fox-Pitt and Under Oath lead the 7-Year-Old Championship
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With the dressage over at Osberton International at Thoresby, four big names headline the two long format classes and the two British Eventing Six and Seven-Year-Old Championships
In the BEDE CCI3*-L Izzy Taylor and Hartacker head to cross-country in pole position for owner Camilla Behrens.
The eight-year-old, bay gelding by Spartacus showed true class finishing on 25.7 penalties with Piggy March and Sportsfield Top Notch holding runner-up position on a score of 26.6. Amy O’Connor and Sankro, winners of the Six-Year-Old Championship at Osberton in 2016, are currently in third place on 27.6 while New Zealand’s James Avery holds fourth and fifth places with the two horses owned by Heidi Woodhead; Generous DHI, a horse James has only been riding for one week, on 27.8 and Gorgeous DHI on 28.2
James also holds 12th place riding Sportsfield Lord Livesey and 77th on DHI Highlight while his fellow Antipodeans are also a little down the leader board with Australia’s Brook Staples riding Ardagh Breeze in 68th, Ginny Thompson on Star Anise II (89th) and Stars Align (102nd) and Bella English riding Dowdstown Play Boy in 105th – it’s a very big class!
Emily King and Imposant
The CCI2*-L continued on Friday with Emily King and the 17h seven-year-old Imposant, owned by the Kerr-Dineen family taking over the top spot with a score of 24.6, dropping the overnight leader, Sarah Holmes and Harley Brown into second place (25.8) and Izzy Taylor once again in the top three with Cooley On The Cards (25.9) while Jamie-Lee Day riding Hanleen Didgeridoo has joined Emily Young-Jamieson in equal fourth on a score of 26
The British Eventing Seven-Year-Old Championship is led by William Fox-Pitt, who said that his up and coming horses are keeping him enthused when he won the CCI2*-S on Centurian Bay at Cornbury House, has another reason to be enthused in Lady’s Best’s chestnut gelding Under Oath who currently tops the leader board with a score of 25.7.
However, Tom Jackson riding HH Moonwalk is hot on his heels with a score of 26 and Georgie Strang riding Darcy De La Rose has moved into equal third with Piggy March and I Diablo Joe, a hot favourite for this class, on 26.9. Another hotly tipped combination is World Champion, Ros Canter riding Pennie Wallace and Margie Ward-Read’s British-bred Lordships Parc Royale, currently in fifth place on 27
Piggy March and Sportsfield Top Notch, second in the CCI3*-L
Piggy remains on top of the British Eventing Six-Year-Old Championship with Cooley Goodwood (24.6) but Bubby Upton has moved into second place with another Cooley Horse, Cooley As Ice (26.5), who is coming off a win in the Novice at the South of England recently
Hayden Hankey has also moved into the top three of this class riding Heads Up with a score of 27.1 ahead of Izzy Taylor, yet again, in fourth place on Jaeger Master (27.8) and last year’s Five-Year-Old Champion, Codebreaker ridden by Eliza Stoddart
With less than three penalties between the top three in all classes, it is very tight at the top. The grounds team is pulling out all the stops to ensure the very best going possible and, with new courses that no-one has ridden before, it’s going to be an exciting cross-country Saturday at ‘Thoresberton’ International.
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The new cross country awaits at Thorseby - as does Debra the Zebra, a regular fixture at Osberton International
