Mark Todd and Leonidas II take second place late in the day after disputing a show jumping time penalty
After a couple of nippy Spring days in Lincolnshire, the sun came out to play for the final day of the CIC3* class at Belton International. The Sunday of this event sees the crowds come to the National Trust venue of Belton House, not just for the eventing but also the myriad of sideline activities from Pony Club Games to ferret racing and dressage displays. Even strawberries and cream made an appearance in the sunshine
Most of the eventing riders are too busy to check out the other activities with many of them having multiple rides across the three days of classes which include the Lycetts Grantham Cup CIC3*, CIC2*, Advanced, Intermediate, Open Intermediate and Novice sections
But on Sunday the Lycetts Grantham Cup CIC3* is the feature event. After the two days of dressage Laura Collett and her imposing chestnut Grand Manoeuvre were leading the main class with the only sub-40 score of 39.8 but Laura must have been feeling a little apprehensive; last year she was third after the dressage but had a fall on cross country, this year they added a rail in the show jumping and 16 time penalties on cross country which unfortunately put them out of contention.
Piggy French and Quarrycrest Echo in the show jumping
The morning’s show jumping was influential with only 25 of the 98 combinations jumping a double clear round. Time penalties were scattered liberally and were to play an important part in the final placings when Sir Mark Todd disputed a time penalty in the show jumping and it was removed, putting him into second place while Piggy French riding Quarrycrest Echo, who also had incurred one time penalty in the show jumping, didn’t protest and finished in third.
For Piggy the one penalty difference cost her the win but she was still pleased with the performance of the 10 year old gelding owned by Jayne McGivern that was competed by Tina Cook last year while Piggy was pregnant
Bettina Hoy on Designer 10, third after the dressage, produced one of the first double clear rounds in the morning’s show jumping and they followed it up with a good cross country round, adding just 4.4 time penalties to finish in fourth place at the end of the day. This sets them up well for Badminton and Bettina really seems to be enjoying her combination of riding and coaching roles
“It really takes the pressure off my competing now that I’ve got a ‘proper job’” Bettina told us on Saturday “Financially it is a relief but it also helps my coaching to still be competing as it keeps me in touch with the sport from a competitor’s point of view. Dirk Schrade has promised to tell me when the point comes that I’m no longer competitive and I should retire so I’m relying on him to let me know!”
Based on her performance this weekend, Dirk Schrade won’t be telling Bettina to give up just yet
Mark Todd is another one who isn’t committing to being around for Tokyo 2020 but again this weekend he showed that he is still very much up there. With NZB Campino finishing in 15th place (50.6) and Leonidas II taking second place, adding nothing to his dressage score, Mark’s two entries for Badminton are looking good
Izzy Taylor and KBIS Starburst eat up the cross country
Neither Izzy Taylor’s winner of this class, KBIS Starburst or the fifth placed Frog Rock are Badminton-bound, but Izzy backed up these good results with a fourth place in the Advanced Section N on KBIS Briarlands Matilda who will be heading to the big B in May. You can listen to our interview with Izzy here
Of the other five combinations that rounded out the top ten in this class only Alexander Bragg on Zagreb completed the cross country without any time faults. This impressive looking leggy horse ate up the course and their ninth place (48.0) earned them the Polly Phillips Memorial Award for the highest placed British rider that has not competed on a senior team.
“The recognition for up and coming riders trying to establish themselves is sometimes not there so to win this trophy so to be recognised in this way is just great and it’s a very thoughtful award to receive” says Alex, who still combines his work as a farrier with a professional riding career
“We had a great season last year finishing at Les Etoiles de Pau CCI4* with a great double clear and fifth place. That was a huge springboard for us to come out this season and hopefully establish ourselves and prove to people that it wasn’t just a fluke but we are here to stay”
We have a full interview with Alex coming up soon
Clare Abbott and Euro Prince, the horse that went up for auction earlier in the year but stayed with Clare, produced a foot perfect show jumping round
Kitty King and Ceylor LAN moved up to sixth place thanks to a double clear show jumping round and just 1.2 time penalties on cross country while the two Irish girls, Sarah Ennis on Horseware Stellor Rebound and Clare Abbott on Euro Prince took seventh and tenth places. Both combinations looked really impressive on cross country and Euro Prince absolutely pinged around the show jumping; again, both performances bode well for their Badminton hopes
Pippa and ChippieH
Although Pippa Funnell’s Badminton-bound horse Billy Beware was one of those to be caught out by Fence 13, the jump in the middle of the water complex which caused a few hiccups, she soon bounced back on her third ride, Chippie H. Three refusals saw Pippa and Billy Beware walking home but she was soon back, and looking very determined, on Chippie H. Despite having only recently taken over the ride on the horse previously ridden by Hedvig Wik, Pippa seemed to be going for the time; they picked up 5.2 time penalties to finish in eighth place
Only two riders outside of the top ten produced double clear cross country rounds – Jonty Evans on Cooley Rorke’s Drift and Sarah Parkes on Balladeer Durban Hills. It must have been bitter sweet for Jonty to finish on his dressage score when it was a dressage score he was very upset about but it was a good way to finish in 11th place. Sarah, who is also headed to Badminton for their first CCI4* start, finished in 21st place but must be very encouraged by their cross country performance here
Virgil said 'no thank you' here the first time then made it look easy
Jesse Campbell on Cleveland and Aoife Clark on Fernhill Adventure, both high in the placings after the dressage, picked up 20 penalties at Fence 12, dropping them out of contention while Shane Rose’s Virgil took exception to the first part of Fence 14.
Shane represented and Virgil then happily sailed over it but clocked up 20 penalties (however they had only 8.8 time penalties even with that little blip) to finish in 60th place just behind Shanghai Joe, who breezed around the cross country with just 6.8 time penalties but had three rails in the show jumping, in 59th place.
Last year’s winner Chris Burton, this year riding Graf Liberty, finished in 42nd place after a steady round in both the show jumping and cross country
The traditional Badminton pre-run, Belton offers something for everyone and we’re not just talking about the ferrets. For those riders who had a good run, there is a sense of being well prepared and there is even a positive for those who encountered blips; better to have it happen here, fix any problem between now and May and then blitz it at Badminton ......
View all fences on the CIC3* course here
