Michael Jung and Sam Take 2015 Land Rover Burghley Title

Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW win! Photo by Samantha Clark.

Our friends at EquiRatings warned us this morning that since 2010 Caroline Powell was the only rider to sit in the top three at Burghley and then jump clear on the final day. Michael Jung is unlike any other rider and proved that again this afternoon, jumping a flawless clear on La Biosthetique Sam FBW to clinch the Land Rover Burghley title at his first attempt.

Tim Price is also a rider who will probably go down as one of the best of his time when all’s said and done, and he too conjured a beautiful clear out of Ringwood Sky Boy, the horse’s first at this level. Between them, Tim’s wife Jonelle and Chris Burton, it’s pretty clear which nations are going to be a real threat at the Olympics in Rio next year.

Jonelle was unlucky when Classic Moet had the first part of the treble down and dropped from second to fifth, opening the door for Chris Burton to finish in 3rd and 4th places on TS Jamaimo and Haruzac respectively after two clears. Mark Todd for New Zealand and Cedric Lyard for France both jumped clean on Leonidas and Cadeau Du Roi for 6th and 7th, and Tina Cook jumped clear to finish as highest placed Brit in 8th on Star Witness after a miraculous save at the Trout Hatchery yesterday.

Last year’s Badminton champion Paulank Brockagh never looked like she was going to touch a rail and Sam Griffiths finished 9th on her, with William Fox-Pitt rounding out the top 10 on Fernhill Pimms who had an unlucky rail but looked bright and keen and must be such an exciting prospect for his rider and owners Catherine Witt and Carol Gee.

Lynn Symansky and Donner had one rail down to finish 14th. Photo by Samantha Clark.

Lynn Symansky and Donner finished 14th with one rail down to be the highest-placed U.S. combination. Donner looked a bit spooky early on but settled well to complete on a final score of 64.9. Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights moved up from 30th after cross country to finish in 22nd thanks to jumping one of just five clear show jumping rounds this morning.

Laine Ashker and Anthony Patch had three down to finish 48th, with honorary American Tim Bourke and Luckaun Quality having one down to finish 39th. You can read all about the morning session and see photos of Colleen, Laine and Tim here, plus watch an interview with Colleen. Scroll down to see the photo gallery from the final show jumping session.

The press conference is about to get underway, so keep checking back for much more from Burghley. All show jumping rounds are now available to watch on Burghley TV at this link. You can also see lots of photos and GIFs in EN’s open threads; click here for the morning session open thread and here for the afternoon open thread. Go Team USA at Burghley! Go Eventing!

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