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Friday Report from Burnham Market International
Burnham Market International - How Influential for Selection?
The flags were at half mast and a two-minute silence was held at 3pm at the Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International on Saturday to honour Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
“It was very moving” says Hilary Manners, who was by the dressage arenas at the time “The tests had been timed so as not to clash with the silence and the riders who were warming up had halted. It was totally quiet. Even the horses didn’t fidget.”
The Duke of Edinburgh’s grand-daughter Zara Phillips, who was attending the funeral, is a regular competitor at Burnham Market where several of her friends and fellow riders are putting on a very good show.
On Friday, Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street led the CCI4*-S Section B on a score of 25.4 but Laura Collett pipped her on Saturday with her two rides in this section to take first and second places. Pippa is now in equal third place with Mollie Summerland and the very expressive Charly Van Ter Heiden.
Not only does Laura’s Mr Bass lead this section on 24 and Dacapo take second place on 25.1 but the CCI5* Pau-winning combination of Laura and London 52 also lead the CCI4*-S Section C.
"He's come out super confident" says Laura of the 5* winner as she talks to Musketeer Events' Rein Back wrap up, along with other riders and a rather famous dad ....
Their score of 23.8 moved them ahead of yesterday’s leader Piggy March, who is now in equal second, fourth and sixth places, and Izzy Taylor riding the CCI4*-L winner here at Burnham Market International in September last year, Monkeying Around, has moved into equal second place with Piggy riding Brookfield Inocent
"The 4* course looks very strong" says Australia's Bill Levett who is going into Sunday's cross country with an open mind as he has two inexperienced horses, Lates Quin and Huberthus AC, entered at this level (more to come from Bill soon). We're looking forward to seeing how all of the combinations, including Bill's, fare on Alec Lochore's CCI4*-S course
New Zealand’s Caroline Powell still holds her lead in the CCI3*-S on Rock Midnight but she now has Oliver Townend riding the very talented seven-year-old Cooley Rosalent snapping at her heels as they head into Sunday’s cross country phase. The young British rider Molly Faulkner is in very good company with these two stars, in third place riding Call Me Cooley, who had some good results last year despite the on-off again competition schedule.
Caroline March and Shades of Cooley
Intermediate Sections
Oliver also took overall second place in the Open Intermediate Section O which completed on Saturday. Piggy March and I Diablo Joe added another win in this class to that at Oasby 1, giving them two wins and one second place for three starts so far, and it was a strong win on a score of 26, a clear 10 penalties ahead of second place.
Piggy started on a dressage score of 20 and, even though she rolled one pole and added two time penalties on cross country, she finished well ahead of Oliver riding Arklow Puissance in second place (37.1) and Alex Tordoff riding Cool Jack was third (38.5)
Caroline March riding Shades of Cooley won the Intermediate Section N and Ireland’s Aoife Clark riding Dondarrion took the Intermediate Section M
Aoife Clark and Dondarrion
Novice Sections
Flora Harris had a great day in the Novice sections at Burnham Market, winning both the Novice Section I on Class Vista and Novice Section H on Class Spec
Harry Horgan won the Open Novice Section J on board Idefix Van De Crumelhaeve (and a special here of the lovely Mister Higgins, ridden by Caroline Powell and owned by Jess and Jo West in Australia, who took fourth place in this class) while Ibble Watson riding her very cute grey gelding Aristoteles Z won the Open Novice Under 18 Section K
Advanced
Tim and Jonelle Price fly out to Kentucky on Sunday but Tim made a last ride at Burnham Market before heading out to the USA very worthwhile.
The last horse to run on cross country in the Advanced class after a big day of eventing, Tim’s Falco won the class on a score of 26.8, the only combination to finish on their dressage score, ahead of a star-studded field. Piggy March riding Brookfield Inocent took second place (32.4) and Pippa Funnell riding Mayback were very close behind in third (32.5).
Heidi Coy riding Haleza took fourth place, Nicola Wilson riding Erano M in fifth and Tom McEwen riding Dream Big, the only other combination apart from Tim to make the time on cross country but had a rail down in show jumping, finished in sixth place.
Team Price also had three more in the top 10 of this class with Tim also taking eighth place on Vitali, Jonelle tenth on McClaren and their working pupil Tayla Mason in ninth place on Centennial
We'll be back tomorrow with our daily report plus a full wrap-up next week and don't forget to stay tuned to our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for video snippets and more during the weekend ...
Tim Price and Falco win the Advanced
