Pippa Funnell presents Billy The Biz at Blenheim first horse inspection
An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on cross country at
Ssangyong Blenheim Palace International - find out more here
The 2019 Burghley winner Pippa Funnell came down to earth with a bang, literally, earlier this week thanks to the antics of a young horse but she is still raring to go with Billy Walk On, the horse she pulled out of Burghley after the dressage, who is now competing at the SsangYong Blenheim International Horse Trials in the CCI4*-L – watch out for them in the dressage on Friday just before the lunch break. Pippa is also riding Billy The Biz in the same class
Rupert Bell caught up with Pippa for a chat at the first horse inspection at Blenheim to discover that the locally based Pippa may well have attended all Blenheim events to date!
Pippa Funnell
Zara Tindall and Watkins
Zara Tindall, who won the European Championship title here at Blenheim, was another who has re-routed from Burghley after taking an untimely tumble from Class Affair and walking home. If Class Affair had been smart, he would have picked his feet up and finished the course at Burghley but now he has to be at Blenheim with his stable mate, Watkins and Zara is looking forward to making it all the way around the cross country this time and talking to Rupert at the end of this competition!
Only one horse didn’t make it past the eagle eyes of the Blenheim Ground Jury of PollyAnn Huntington (AUS), Andrew Bennie (NZL), and Jane Holderness-Roddam (GBR) with Rebecca Nicholson and Uno II out of the competition so 86 horses now move forward to compete in the CCI4*-L and the CCI4*-S 8/9 Year Old classes
You will need to be watching right from the start of these competitions as the first horse into the 8/9-Year-Old arena is on cracking form and ridden by the master of Young Horse Championships, Tom Carlile. Tom has brought Bary Louvo following two wins at 3*-L level in France, with the pair finishing on their dressage score of 24.8 both times. Tom also has the eight-year-old mare Birmane in the same class who finished third at Le Pin to her stable mate and already has a raft of top class results to her name
Both classes are packed with big name riders and talented riders and you can follow all the action with live scores or on live stream here
We’ll leave you with some of Libby’s great images from the first horse inspection – lots more to come so stay tuned ……..
Keep an eye out for these two Antipodean stars - Australia's Kevin McNab is on great form and of course the World Number One, Tim Price
Hot to trot - Piggy French not only won the Female Best Dressed but also has two of the red hot favourites in Calling Card and Brookfield Inocent
Mind my toes! Ginny Howe and Undalgo De Windsor against the beautiful backdrop of Blenheim
