What about me? Andrew manages to get in the picture with the owners of the winning Avebury, Rosemary and Mark Barlow
In second place overnight, Sam Griffiths started the day by winning the Best Dressed Male rider at the second Horse Inspection and his prize of a bottle of champagne was no doubt put on ice in anticipation.
The rider may have been best dressed but his horse Happy Times also looked a picture, gleaming in the morning sun and certainly looking ready to jump again. However four horses were held with one, Roo Fox’s Fleet Street, not being passed on representing while Jock Paget’s Clifton Promise caused a lot of discussion among the Ground Jury when asked to trot up a second time – he was then accepted much to his relief and that of the crowd. The USA’s Hannah Sue Burnett, a first timer at Burghley and in seventh place after cross country, withdrew before the second horse inspection meaning that Australia’s Bill Levett and Murray Lamperd, both in the top 10, moved up a place each to eighth and ninth respectively.
News also came in of the three riders injured on the cross country yesterday; Gina Ruck was discharged from hospital with a broken ankle, Neil Spratt was discharged with a back injury and Nat Blundell was discharged with ligament damage (and ‘bruised pride’ says Nat on her Facebook page!)
The civilised time of a mid morning trot up meant that 15 riders finished their competition before lunch while the top 24 were to provide the postprandial entertainment. The marquees were stuffed with guests enjoying a variety of lunch options from outdoor picnics around the big screen to luxurious lunches in the various hospitality tents. The remaining riders probably didn’t enjoy their lunch as much as they nervously awaited the nail biting finish of jumping in reverse order.
The overnight leader Andrew Nicholson could not afford a single rail with only 3.7 penalties separating him and Sam Griffiths, while third and fourth placed Oliver Townend and Jock Paget had only 0.1 penalties between them
Piggy French and Westwood Mariner
Piggy French was the first rider of the afternoon session, going out of order on Westwood Mariner as she had two horses on equal scores although she later opted to withdraw Jakata. Twelve faults for the experienced jockey Piggy made us wonder if there may be a repeat of 2013 when there was not a single clear round after lunch but the next three riders proved that would not be the case and there were some very good clear rounds to come
Jonelle Price, who was considering withdrawing after her 28th dressage place on The Deputy, is probably glad she chose to carry on. She finished in ninth overall, four places down from their fifth place here last year, after yesterday’s strong cross country round and a beautiful clear round today.
In tenth place, Murray Lamperd and Under the Clocks (above) not only proved they have what it takes at a major international competition but were also the highest placed first time combination. The pair had two rails and two time penalties but there can be no doubt that this was a big win for Murray
As Murray cantered out, Bill Levett cantered in on Improvise. They produced an impressive clear round, leaving one of the horse’s owners, Ali Butler with tears of joy in her eyes. Bill too was pretty happy
Britain’s Gemma Tattersall riding Arctic Soul had a clear round, to her delight and amazement, saying that she had expected to have a couple of rails down!
William Fox-Pitt on Bay My Hero also had a clear round but Izzy Taylor dropped two places thanks to two rails. Jock Paget then put the pressure on Oliver Townend with a clear round but Oliver had pressure of his own with Armada not being known for clear rounds; it was not a good day for Armada and he had 16 faults, dropping him from third to eighth
But all eyes were on the last two show jumping rounds to come from Sam Griffiths and Andrew Nicholson
Sam Griffiths and Happy Times had the fifth fence down and were so close to finishing when the last rail agonisingly rolled as well. Andrew now had room to breathe but he resisted the urge to go for the time, kept all the rails up and just incurred two time faults. He had just achieved an amazing feat of wining Burghley three times in a row on the same horse and there could be no doubt of the emotion in his voice on the podium and as he hugged long time owner of Avebury, Rosemary Barlow
The 53 year old New Zealander who has ridden round Burghley more than any other rider, a record 33 times, now has the very special new record of being the only rider to win at Burghley three times in a row on the horse he thinks so much of – Avebury
Here's what the top three riders, Andrew, Jock and Sam thought of the day
Results - Top 6
Andrew Nicholson (NZL) Avebury 48.1
Jock Paget (NZL) Clifton Promise 55.2
Sam Griffiths (AUS) Happy Times 57.8
William Fox-Pitt (GBR) Bay My Hero 60.3
Gemma Tattersall (GBR) Arctic Soul 64.2
Bill Levett (AUS) Improvise 65.9
