Ros Canter and Izilot DHI. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
It’s a truth universally acknowledged that a ground jury on a Thursday morning must be in want of a few marks – must, surely, be stiff and ungenerous, lending a natural benefit to those riders lucky enough to be given a Friday afternoon draw, once everyone’s loosened up a bit and begun to flirt with the ‘9’ button.
Or is it? That commonly-held belief certainly didn’t appear to have much effect on Ros Canter and her 2023 Pau champion Izilot DHI (Zavall VDL – Un, by Cavalier) who, as just the second combination in the ring this morning, earned themselves Defender Burghley’s second best-ever score. They now sit firmly atop the leaderboard on a 19.8 that’s just about guaranteed to stay in prime position overnight, and will be seriously tough to beat tomorrow. But while it’s tempting to predict that Ros and the eleven-year-old KWPN gelding will head into Saturday’s cross-country in the lead, tomorrow, we’ll see the horse and rider who hold the Burghley record – that’s Tim Price and Vitali, who posted an incredible 18.7 here last year.
Whatever happens tomorrow, though, Ros is delighted with how her week has started with the notoriously quirky Isaac.
“I’m absolutely [thrilled],” she says, a beaming smile writ large across her face. “I’ve been practicing, since Luhmühlen, having him a little bit more in self-carriage and lighter. He’s obviously always been quite spooky, and so I’ve [often] kind of gone for the safety option of having him very secure, and that doesn’t show him at his best. So since Luhmühlen, I’ve been really trying to let him dance like he can — and I think we’re nearly there. Like, there’s more to come, definitely.”
It was one of the most secure, confident tests we’ve ever seen from the talented gelding, whose tendency to a fright has often made life just a bit trickier: last year at Pau, he delivered a smart 24.3 en route to eventual victory, but that test came after a dramatic overreaction to a cameraman, which prevented Ros from being able to ride around much of the outside of the arena before entering at A.
Ros Canter and Izilot DHI. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Getting to the bottom of Isaac has been, and continues to be, a long process, and one that requires patience, tact, and lateral thinking.
“He actually is a calm horse — he’s just plain spooky, but he’s not actually hot-headed. He’s actually placid by nature, and he wants to be quiet, but he’s just got a really sharp flight instinct. So if he does spook, it tends to be very clear for everyone to see. Today, he had the odd peek, but nothing too violent,” explains Ros, who has adjusted how she trains Isaac throughout the course of this year in order to embolden him. At the start of the year, that meant no schooling at home: instead, he’d hack out, and if Ros wanted to practice flatwork, she’d travel him to different venues to give him exposure to new environments. Now, in the back end of the year, she’s begun to reintroduce working at home more.
“It’s changed a bit; I’m still not schooling him as much as I was, but I am now working him a bit, and it’s definitely paid off,” she says. Another major factor? At this time of year, he’s able to live out full time, which helps to settle his brain.
“He’s just always such a challenge in the spring, and when he’s still having to come in at night and things like that. As soon as we can, like, basically, in May, all our horses live out full time. They sometimes come in for one night for a competition if we’re leaving it two in the morning, but if not, if we can grab them in the dark, we do and just pop them on and go. He just loves the sun on his back out in the field, it completely changes his personality and his demeanor. So my life is easier at the moment!”
And when life gets easier with Isaac, Ros explains, he rewards all that patience and sympathetic training with an unrivalled feeling.
“He’s the most elastic horse I’ve ever ridden,” she says. “You only have to kind of clench your tummy muscles and tighten your backside, and he can kind of almost be a dressage horse. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Ros Canter and Izilot DHI. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
There’s still plenty of time to go – and another dressage test tomorrow, this time with Badminton champion Lordships Graffalo – before Saturday’s cross-country, but Ros, who retired at Badminton this spring when Isaac became overwhelmed by the huge atmosphere on cross-country, and then rerouted to Luhmühlen to lead the first two phases, is already thinking ahead about her plan of action.
“It looks pretty intense at the start to me, and I think certainly for Izilot DHI, you know, the narrow passageways into the main arena [at 4AB], that’s the kind of thing that would unsettle him. So if I can get him kind of out of Defender Valley [5ABC], the Leaf Pit [7ABCDE], back through Defender Valley [8AB], I think he’ll settle. I’ve got every faith in his jumping ability.”
Pippa Funnell and MCS Maverick. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Second place is held at the lunchbreak by two-time Burghley champion Pippa Funnell, who had the unenviable task of following up Ros’s ride. And look, we’re not going to pretend that she, or anyone else, came even close to threatening Ros’s reign of supremacy, but the eleven-year-old MCS Maverick (Mill Law – Aroma) acquitted himself well in the arena to earn a respectable 28.3.
“It’s a good start, and a huge relief because, as everyone knows, it’s a little tricky with him,” says Pippa of her 2023 Bramham champion, who she’s been riding for just eighteen months and who is a hot, often challenging little horse. “But he was great, really great. The walk didn’t suit him, but he managed to walk, so that was good. We had one little jog, but I thought the pirouettes were going to be really tough, and theywere tough, but we sort of got better than ones and twos, so that was good. But the really exciting thing about the horse is, when he gets in the white boards, he’s starting to breathe more, which is all positive.”
“I’m sure,” she continues, “that there are going to be a lot of better tests, but at least I’m going out there still to be competitive, whereas I’m not sure how excited I’d have been about getting out there if I wasn’t in touch. So I’m pleased with him. There’s a lot of mental games that goes on with that horse at home, but the work he’s doing at home, I would say he’s nearly one of the best, most talented ones I’ve had on the flat.”
Pippa, too, has two horses this week, with stalwart Majas Hope to come tomorrow – “The one thing we have on our side is experience — we have a combined age of 73,” she laughs. She’s also busy coaching and mentoring some of her fellow competitors; taking part in book signings for her Tilly’s Pony Tales series; and appearing on Pony Club chat shows among her colourful schedule of obligations. It’s all another week in the office for the much-loved familiar face – but now, following the retirement from competition of several of her closest friends and longtime competitors, she admits it’s starting to feel just a little bit different.
“I’ve struggled a bit with the fact that two of my best friends, Tina [Cook] and William [Fox-Pitt] aren’t doing it anymore,” she says. “I know they’re both here, but it’s not the same – they’re not sitting in my lorry crapping themselves with me! They’ve got smug expressions on their faces, and it’s just me, now. I miss them, but I do still love riding the horses, so who knows? I have to say, [retirement] does play on my brain a bit, but the important thing is knowing the horses, which I do, well, and I know myself well, too. The nerves get worse and worse, so it’s mentally quite tough. All my career, I’ve thought about getting the horses right for it, and now, I’m thinking, ‘am I up to it?’ I don’t want to let them down.”
Tom Jackson and Capels Hollow Drift. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
One of Pippa’s proteges is close behind her in provisional third place, on a very close score of 28.6. That’s Tom Jackson and Capels Hollow Drift (Shannodale Sarco St. Ghyvan – Lucky Crest, by Lucky Gift xx), who were runners-up here in 2022 on a very similar starting score of 28.9.
“I think he’s done four five stars, and he’s done three 28s now, so it seems like we’re not improving,” laughs Tom. “But I think there was a lot more to like there. It’s just, you know, we always want a bit more, don’t we?”
Just one tricky change – now double-marked in this new CCI5* C test – precluded the pair from earning a higher mark. But despite that, it’s a joy to see how talented ‘Walshy’ has progressed physically – now, as a thirteen-year-old, he’s a picture of elegant muscle and flowing edges, and a very different type than the quite Irish young horse he once was.
“To look at him as a six, seven, eight year old, you wouldn’t have thought he’s necessarily a dressage horse, so he has to work a little bit harder to get that real picture, but it’s all coming together really nicely,” says Tom, who’s also placed fifth at Badminton both this and last year with the gelding. “He’s just a consistent performer, and I think that’s one of his strongest qualities. All l the way through his career, he’s just been super consistent. So hopefully he can finish as close or on 28.6, and we can be there or thereabouts on Sunday.”
Felix Vogg and Cartania. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Switzerland’s Felix Vogg is riding an exciting wave following a top-ten finish at the Olympics with young Dao de l’Ocean, and today, he begins his Burghley campaign with Cartania in provisional fourth place, having put a 28.8 on the board.
You won’t find many event riders who’d celebrate that new double coefficient on the flying changes, but Felix, who trains on the flat with Bettina Hoy, was delighted by their inclusion, particularly on this mare, for whom they’re something of a party trick.
“Usually it’s one of my favorite things to do in a test,” he grins. “I see it as well a bit, as an exercise to loosen a horse and so on. And usually, if you start early enough, every horse has a flying change in the field, so they should do it as well under a rider.”
Cartania (Cartani – C Tenda, by Clinton) delivered very smart, tidy changes in her test, but lost fractional marks for some conservative work, which was something of a surprise to Felix after a few spicy days of settling in.
“She’s always a bit difficult the first few days when she arrives in show, but she showed some progress in the last days now, and got a bit sticky, I don’t know how you call it in English, in there, and didn’t really want to attack it. But I was really pleased with her.”
Harry Meade and Superstition. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Today’s pathfinders, Harry Meade and Superstition (Satisfaction FRH – unknown, by Cordalame), round out the top five with a 32.1, a smart enough start for the gelding, who’s thrice placed at US five-stars but can be reactive in the ring.
“He gets a little bit over-awed with a crowd, usually,” explains Harry. “When I came out at the end, he just froze after the end of the test. But I’m very happy with him. He’s a lovely little athletic horse, and I deliberately came up ten minutes before my test, did a very short warm up, and went in.”
That conservative approach is the thread running through ‘Slinky’s’ week: “I actually only brought him here yesterday. He did a light gallop at home, and then came up in time for the horse inspection, and then this was the first time he’s been ridden here. So I’m just very much trying to just keep it normal for him, not sort of over-pressurizing him with a big occasion.”
Harry, who initially had five entries here and was able to choose three, had some amount of sway over his drawn order as a result of his glut of horses, and going early without much atmosphere was definitely a perk for Superstition.
“It’s understanding each horse and trying to give them what they need individually. There’s always pros and cons going first. It’s not specific to these judges. It’s all judging, quite often, there’s a little bit of a trend to soften throughout the course of the competition. But you know, if I had to ride one first, I’m glad that the draw worked out that he had the quiet atmosphere,” he says.
We’re now heading into the afternoon’s session of dressage – join us soon for a full report from the latter half of today’s competition, and in the meantime, you can join Cheg for a live play-by-play and analysis over on our live updates thread. Go Eventing!
The top ten at the lunch break on Thursday’s dressage.
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