"Here's looking at you, kid" Sarah Bullimore and Reve Du Rouet
An Eventful Life will be filming all competitors on cross country at
Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials on Saturday 1st September 2018
Click here for more information
The first horse inspection at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is done and dusted with two competitors biting the dust at the first hurdle – and let’s face it, both horse inspections are an integral part of these big competitions
Joseph Murphy’s Fernhill Frankie II and Italian competitor Clelia Casirighi’s Verdi were sent to the Holding Box by the Ground Jury of Angela Tucker (GBR), Dr Ernst Topp and Sandor Fulop and both opted to withdraw from there, leaving 70 competitors to start the competition tomorrow
The burgundy Bogart fedora was a hit with Nana Dalton too
Oliver Townend is the only competitor in the field with three horses; as he told us at Blair Castle last week he had five horses fit and ready but it is MHS King Joules, Ballaghmor Class and Cooley SRS that were presented today. Three New Zealanders - Sir Mark Todd, Tim Price and Andrew Nicholson - will be competing two horses, as will Britain’s Nana Dalton, Simon Grieve and Louise Harwood
There are nine Kiwi combinations lining up here from first-timer Ginny Thompson with Star Nouveau to the veteran Sir Mark with NZB Campino and Kiltubrid Rhapsody. Tim Price is riding Ringwood Sky Boy and Bango but it is the 15-year-old bay he is favouring for a top results purely on his experience at top level.
“Both Ringwood Sky Boy and Bango are in really good form coming into this event this time,” says Tim “Both are fantastic with a lot of talent and ability and I am slowly learning how to get the best out of them in all three phases. The endeavour is to produce solid performances . . . and be first and second”
No pressure there, then.
Lissa Green (above) and Bill Levett (below) are two of Australia's three representatives
The timing of the event is a little tricky for many countries, just a week out from when many teams fly to the United States to compete at the 2018 FEI World Equestrian Games and Australia only has three combinations entered this year. Lissa Green is competing on the 14-year-old Hollyfield II and Warren Lamperd is aiming for another completion on the evergreen Silvia while Bill Levett, who is part of the WEG-bound Australian team, is riding Improvise
There is no Jung factor this year with only one combination, Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon, making the journey from Germany but three have travelled from the USA with Andrea Baxter, Lillian Heard and Buck Davidson bucking the trend and travelling this way across the Atlantic
With three horses competing, it was inevitable that Oliver Townend would be the first competitor out with MHS King Joules heading into the arena at 9:30am tomorrow
We loved Caroline Powell's outfit (above) and Alex Bragg cut a dashing figure as always
As always, one of the main aims of the horse inspection is actually nothing to do with the horse at all but is the subjective decision regarding the best dressed riders. Today this was judged by Emma Warren of HiHo Silver and Lisa Hancock, Chief Executive of the Injured Jockeys Fund with Caroline Powell and Alexander Bragg taking the honours
However it was Harry Meade's Away Cruising that got our vote for sheer high jinks .............
“You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together, and blow” Lydia Hannon (or Lauren Bacall?) and My Royal Touch continue the Bogart theme
Fancy and fundraising - pink tassels were popular today whilst helping to raise money for British Cancer Care
Everyone enjoys a bit of luxury - Tom Crisp and Cooleys Luxury on the runway
