Jock Paget and Clifton Promise at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry.
So now that Jock Paget has officially thrown down the gauntlet for 2013, what’s next? Winning your very first Badminton is kind of a big deal, and winning Burghley in the same year is pretty great, and I guess winning both of them on the same horse that you’ve brought up the levels could be seen as almost impossible, but Jock’s gone and done it. Not only was he the first rider to win Badminton on his first attempt since Mark Todd in 1980, but Clifton Promise has become the first horse to win both Badminton and Burghley in the same year since Master Craftsman and Ginny Leng in 1989.
It seems only a short while ago we were speculating about a Grand Slam possibility for either William Fox Pitt or Andrew Nicholson, but sadly it was not to be, as Jock Paget crushed their hopes with his win at Badminton. So now, with these new results from Jock, we get to ponder two wonderful future possibilities: 1) The U.S. will be graced with the Kiwi Avenger himself (new official nickname) and 2) Eventers worldwide will get the thrill of another Grand Slam victory in Kentucky in 2014.
For a bit of background, the Rolex Grand Slam is a title for any rider who wins in succession the three premiere CCI4* events — the U.S.’s Rolex Kentucky and Britain’s Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials and Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials. There is a $350,000 prize for the rider who is able to complete this feat. The Grand Slam has only been won once by Pippa Funnell in 2003 after she won Badminton, Kentucky and Burghley in one amazing year.
In 2006, Andrew Hoy almost did it when he won Kentucky and Badminton in the spring and led going into the show jumping at Burghley, but faults there dropped him to second. Oliver Townend got tantalizingly close in 2010, dodging the Icelandic ash cloud to get to Kentucky, only to suffer a crashing fall with Ashdale Cruise Master. And while both WFP and the Silver Fox had the chance this spring, neither were successful.
According to reports from HorseTalk NZ, Jock has already begun planning to attend Rolex 2014, because frankly, why not?!
The New Zealander said he was now looking to make a plan for Kentucky, and would “work back and try and go there and nail it. [Clifton Promise is] an incredible horse and always has been. He’s a full New Zealand thoroughbred, he does great dressage, he’s a lion cross-country and doesn’t want to touch a pole in the show jumping! He’s everything you could wish for in an event horse and he’s tough.”
Last November, Jock was lucky enough to enjoy some training from Michael Jung after his stellar performance at the London Olympics, and it looks like he may have learned a little too much from Ze Terminator about world domination. He also has been mentored by Andrew Nicholson, and the combined knowledge of those two riders would just about blow anybody’s mind, but it seems to have really sharpened Jock. Not only that, but the pair have already been to Rolex, as they placed 6th in 2012, so they are familiar with the course. The prospect of him returning to Kentucky in the spring is both formidable and enthralling, and I’m pretty sure that U.S. eventers will have to contain ourselves, lest we look like a bunch of Beliebers at the trot ups!
