Izzy Taylor and KBIS Starburst Shine at Belton

Izzy Taylor, winner of the 2017 Lycetts Grantham Cup. Photo courtesy of Belton International Horse Trials.

Britain’s Izzy Taylor claimed the headline win at Belton International H.T. with KBIS Starburst. Izzy, Mark Todd with Leonidas II, and Piggy French with Quarrycrest Echo were all within a point of one another to finish one-two-three in the CIC3* Lycetts Grantham Cup.

“I’m delighted with this win,” Izzy says. “KBIS Starburst has had nearly two years away from competition, and he does get nervous in an atmosphere of which there is plenty here, but I’ve worked hard on that and couldn’t be happier with his performance this weekend.”

Izzy and the 10-year-old Irish-bred gelding were tied for fourth position after dressage and added nothing to their score of 43.0 to jump their way up the scoreboard into the top spot. They posted the fastest cross country time of the day in the horse’s first three-star since Blenheim in 2015. Izzy also finished fifth with Frog Rock.

Britain-based U.S. rider Katherine Coleman and Back to Business II also enjoyed a partnership-building weekend at Belton, adding a couple show jumping rails and just a bit of time cross country to their dressage score of 58.7 to finish 58th in the near-100 horse strong division.

Belton marks the second three-star outing for Katherine and her 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare, following a 7th place finish at Barroca D’Alva in Portugal last month. We look forward to seeing Katherine and her four-star mount Longwood tackle their first four-star together at Badminton next month!

Belton is the first leg of the Shearwater Insurance Tri-Star Grand Slam, which offers a ‘winner-takes-all’ prize fund of £50,000 for any rider who can win three of the five CIC3* events included in the competition. Belton joins Burnham Market International, Houghton International, Burgham International and NAF Five Star Hartpury International as legs of the series. Congrats to Izzy on her win, and we look forward to following the rest of the series as it unfolds.

In addition to the CIC3* Belton featured a number of other divisions including two Advanced classes, won by Paul Sims with Glengarnock and Tim Price with Xavier Faer. Britain-based Canadian rider Katherine Robinson and Let It Bee finished in the top 10 of a competitive Advanced division, having added 11.6 cross country time penalties to their dressage score of 34.6. They are currently on the Badminton wait list.

We are saddened to report the loss of Irish eventer Camilla Spiers’ mount BT Border Bandit, who was euthanized after suffering a severe injury on cross country in the Advanced division. We will share more information as it becomes available.

Belton CIC3* Final Top 15: