Chris Burton’s Santano II has taken his first 3* in his stride, winning the CCI3* at Saumur in France
“It’s always nerve wracking when you make the move up to 3*”said Chris “You never know how they are going to handle the distance. He may be sired by Sandro Hit and very good in the dressage but he’s got plenty of blood and loves to jump”
Santano III, the horse that impressed at Camphire last year, started with a very good dressage score of 40.20, jumped clear around Pierre Michelet’s cross country course and, despite adding four show jumping faults, won the class ahead of another very talented pair, French rider Thomas Carlile and the grey Upsilon.
These two young men seem to be locked in battle – at Belton International Chris just pipped Thomas at the post as the very last rider of the day and again this weekend both Thomas and Chris were the stars of the show
Chris is well known for his speedy riding and he was the fastest on this weekend’s cross country course with just 1.2 time penalties; even Oliver Townend, one of the fastest riders in the world when he chooses and the best placed British rider on Cillnabradden Evo in fifth place, didn’t make the time on this course. Ahead of Oliver were two French riders, the in-form Arnaud Boiteau who won at Chatsworth last week and Maxime Livio riding Opium des Verrieres
