Very happy with second place and PB! Gemma and Arctic Soul
No-one could match Michael Jung’s score of 38.90 during the Thursday afternoon session of dressage at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials but the British crowd were jubilant when Gemma Tattersall and her 14-year-old Irish-bred Thoroughbred Arctic Soul, who recently won the British Open CIC3* Championship at the Festival of British Eventing, came the closest with a score of 43
Gemma herself couldn't take the smile off her face, "chuffed to bits" with the dressage performance of the horse that is a cross country machine
Mackenna Shae and Landioso
In third place is the USA’s Mackenna Shae riding Landioso on a score of 46.1, just 0.1 penalties ahead of Paul Tapner’s score from the morning session. 24 year old Mackenna is one of the eight American riders competing here and this is her first time at Burghley, having been based here since June
At the age of 14 she found her the then five year old Landioso in Germany and in May 2015 they made their 4* debut at Lexington; they failed to complete on that occasion but the pair bounced back to gain their first four-star completion at Lexington the following spring after Landioso had recovered from colic surgery so it has been quite a journey to compete at their first British CCI4*.
Two other American riders also competed this afternoon with Andrea Baxter riding Indy 500 scoring 56.9 (currently 24th) and Hannah Sue Burnett riding Under Suspection on a score of 48.80 (11th)
Josh Peacock spoke to Mackenna after her ride
The scores for third to sixth places are very close with Paul Tapner and Bonza King of Rouges now in fourth place (46.2), Georgie Spence on Wii Limbo in fifth (46.4) and New Zealand’s Tim Price on Xavier Faer in sixth (46.5)
Warren Lamperd and Silvia strut their stuff in the arena (above) and Warren struts his stuff on the cross country course (below)!
Australia’s Warren Lamperd also competed this afternoon on Silvia and is currently in equal 16th place with Ludwig Svennerstal riding Balham Mist, a combination that recently came second in the British Open Championship CIC3* at the Festival of British Eventing, on a score of 52.
But the man to beat remains Michael Jung ............. will someone do it tomorrow?
