Kitty King and Cristal Fontaine take section B of the CCI4*-S in fine style. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Throughout the weekend here at the Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International Horse Trials, we’ve seen the power balance shift in droves from one rider to another, again and again: from Piggy March on Friday, when she held first, second, third, fifth, and sixth over the two CCI4*-S sections after the first half of dressage, to Laura Collett, who sat first, first again, and second at the culmination of the phase. Today’s showjumping, and the tumultuous cross-country finale, would see this pattern of movement – and multi-horsed leaderboard dominance by a small handful of riders – continue.

The withdrawal of Laura Collett‘s horses after showjumping owing to the firm ground cleared the way for another sea change. Kitty King‘s 2018 Six-Year-Old World Champion made his CCI4*-S debut here last September, finishing third in the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds, ordinarily held at Blenheim – and the now nine-year-old Selle Français has emerged this season looking even more established, strong, and balanced than he did in his previous impressive efforts.

This week, he sat ninth in section B after dressage on a score of 28.1 – just slightly marred by an unplanned halt in one of the walk pirouettes – before showjumping clear and producing a clear cross-country round three seconds inside the optimum time of 6:21 to take victory in just his second attempt at the level.

“He jumped a beautiful round in the showjumping and made it feel very easy. It’s easy to ride good rounds when you’re sitting on nice jumpers like that – you start to think ‘actually, I might be quite good!'” Kitty laughs. Having debuted the horse at the level over September’s more straightforward track, today’s run was both a test and a solidification of his experience at the level.

“On cross-country he was a wee bit green in a couple of places but really genuine; as long as I told him where he was going, he went,” she says. “We weren’t always the prettiest but he got the job done, and I was really proud of how he kept answering the questions even when he wasn’t sure what he was meant to be doing. I think he’ll have grown up a lot from the track – it’s given him a lot of experience.”

Kitty cites the Fairfax Sun Dials at 8AB – a table and a skinny element, situated on opposite ends of a quarry – as one of the tricky questions where the young horse could have faulted and instead made a greater effort to find his way through the flags.

“Because he’s a careful jumper, he was like, ‘ooh, there’s a drop down there’ – so then we ended up adding [a stride] going up to the sun dial, which made it a big effort jumping up the hill. It would have been easier for him, probably, to run out rather than to put in that big effort, so I was really pleased with how generous he was there. By the time he got to the corners [near the end of the course] he was flying; he had really grown in confidence [around the course] and understood what he was doing, basically.”

Reigning Badminton champions Piggy March and Vanir Kamira take second place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Second place went to Piggy March and Vanir Kamira, who climbed from 10th place after dressage after finishing on their first-phase score of 28.7. Though the pair, who won Badminton in 2019, are fiercely competitive at the five-star level, we’ve become used to seeing the experienced mare run intentionally conservatively at these short-format internationals.

“This isn’t really what we do with her, fly around one-days – but right now, we’re not sure what else is happening, and so if she’s competitive, now we do run her,” says Piggy. “Because what are we waiting for? What are we saving her for? I won’t run her much in the summer on the hard ground, so after this I’ll probably ease off her – then, hopefully Burghley will happen, and so we’ll work back from then [to make a season plan].”

The now sixteen-year-old mare looked fresh and keen on course, clocking up the fastest round of the day as she crossed the finish line ten seconds under the optimum time.

“She’s fast, and she doesn’t waste any time at her fences – she’s low and quick,” says Piggy. “She’s a really hot mare and gets herself quite worked up, so it’s usually all about [saving the fast runs for] Badminton and Burghley with her. But what do you do? Do you put them out in the field, do you just hacking and schooling every day? They’ve got to have an aim and stay in work so they don’t feel that they’ve retired. It’s frustrating, but it’s just where the sport is at for the moment – we just have to keep our fingers crossed for the back end of the year.”

Tom Jackson and Billy Cuckoo take fifth – one of three top-ten placings for the rider across the two sections. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Gemma Tattersall was one of the first riders of the day to take to the course, and she was the first to make the time, romping home one second inside it with Chris and Lisa Stone’s eleven-year-old Chilli Knight, who was third in Blenheim’s eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S in 2019 and made his CCI5* debut at Pau last year. They climbed up to third place as a result, followed by a two-handed effort from Tom Jackson, who enjoyed a very good day in the office indeed when finishing on his dressage scores with Capel Hollows Drifts – fourth on 31.3 – and Billy Cuckoo – fifth on 32. This, plus a sixth place finish in section C with Fire Fly, who added just 1.2 time penalties to finish on a score of 36.4, should ensure a very jolly lorry ride home indeed.

The final top ten in section B of the CCI4*-S.

Piggy March and a ‘very cute’ Dargun win section C. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The baton was passed between Burnham’s leading ladies in CCI4*-S section C, which was scooped by Piggy March with the former Emily King ride Dargun. They added nothing to their 26.9 dressage to step up from fourth place overnight.

“He was really cute – in all three phases I thought he was really cool,” says Piggy, who describes her dressage test on him on Friday as her ‘clear round’ of that day.

The win marks just their fourth FEI event together and follows a second place in the CCI4*-S at Little Downham in October – but today felt like the first time that they’d set out with the intention of being competitive, Piggy says.

“It’s fun for him – I haven’t really been that competitive with him. Last year was a building year for us as a partnership, and I felt this year that this is it. He’s come on so much.”

Part of building that partnership came down to managing a few health issues: the horse has historically been prone to tying up, which has taken time to accommodate.

“He’s very simple [to manage] in many ways, but inwardly we’d think, ‘is he still up for this?'” she explains. “But he felt great – he was really cute and very genuine, and he did the tricky fences really well.”

Piggy also nabbed fifth place in this section with Fonbherna Lancer, another relatively new ride and one previously piloted by Izzy Taylor. They lowered a pole and added a time fault in showjumping and coasted home with two time penalties across the country, pulling them up from just outside the top ten after dressage.

“He was wobbly at the harder ones, but he was genuine and went,” says Piggy, who confesses with a laugh that she ‘did a big miss’ in the showjumping on the horse.

“He was jumping so well, and I keep having a jump down on him – which I shouldn’t because he’s a great jumper. He jumped one, two, and three, and he was a foot over them, so I thought ‘shit, he’s on great form, this feels amazing!’ I didn’t even have to do anything – I just pointed him at the fence and he was being brilliant. So I was floating along thinking ‘don’t get a time fault!’ and so I floated to a floaty distance and kicked the rails all the way out…what a knob I felt like!”

If it all sounds like the cross-country was rather too easy today, rest assured: today’s track, designed by Alec Lochore, boasted a nearly 75% clear round rate but caused plenty of high-profile problems. The most influential fence? The first water jump, which featured a robust house as the A element, a collapsible upright in the water as the B element, and then an achingly tricky left-handed turn to a brush corner, the line to which was made more difficult by the placement of decorative barrels on the approach. Experienced and inexperienced horses alike found themselves pushed off their intended line by the barrels, and run-outs to the right-hand side were seen in abundance, prompting more and more riders to opt for the long route, which could be tackled by swinging outside the barrels and jumping back over the other corner of the brush, or by hairpin turning right and then left to meet the ‘direct’ side of the obstacle. One of the most high-profile faulters here was Piggy’s Brookfield Inocent, winner of the Blenheim CCI4*-L in 2019 and second at Pau last year, who spooked at the barrels and wasn’t able to find his line again as a result.

“He’s probably one of the best cross-country horses I’ve ever had, and sometimes I feel like I sit there like I’m on rails,” she says. “But he’s also a spooky, hardy little sod at times, and I think he just made the first two jumps through the water really easily, and made the turn nicely, and just sat there really quietly – and then he took a spook at the barrels. It was bugger-all to do with the fence – the moment you jink at that particular jump, and you’re a meter away on the inside line, the fence is near-on impossible to jump. You can’t even see it as a fence, because you’re too much on the wall of it.”

But, says Piggy, “I half smiled at it, because I think you can put them on pedestals, but they’re not machines – and it’s probably the best kick up my ass I could have. You think, ‘oh my god, that just happened on that horse’ – but then I thought, ‘well, I was cantering around like I was on rails, thinking, do I run, do I not; we’ve had a rail, we’re not competitive…’, and so I wasn’t quite in the zone. So it was rider error, to be honest, but it was that kick up the ass that I needed. And then I got on [Fonbherna Lancer], and he’s greener, and I thought, don’t just think it’s all just going to happen – make it happen.”

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats add another jewel to the rider’s crown this weekend with second place in section C. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Kitty King followed up her win in section B with a second place finish in this section, this time riding her more experienced partner Vendredi Biats. The 2019 Bramham CCI4*-L winner has taken some time to master this phase, and it hasn’t been for lack of talent: instead, it’s been a product of his natural ebullience and cheeky nature, which has caused some focus issues in the past.

“I was really chuffed with him,” says Kitty, who expressed some disappointment in her first-phase mark of 27.5 but added nothing to it in the jumping phases.

“He consistently pulls out clear rounds [in the showjumping], so you go into the ring thinking ‘well, unless I miss, he should go clear'”, she says. That clear round was then followed by an enthusiastic penalty-free sprint across the country.

“He was very keen on cross-country, and a bit stronger than he usually would be, but I was really pleased with him because when he’s fresh, like he was today, he can be a bit on the cheeky side. I thought there were plenty of places on the course that if he was feeling that bit cheeky, he could have been a monkey. He gave me a really good ride and felt really good through all the tricky combinations – and he finished really fresh, too. When I was pulling up he spooked [going past] fence two and I nearly fell off. That’s just his character – whereas [Cristal Fontaine] pulled up like ‘oh my god, what just happened?’, this one was pricking around and spooking about. At least he waited until he’d finished!”

Kitty’s two excellent results are particularly welcome after a tumultuous end to her 2020 season, which saw her tumble from Vendredi Biats in her final prep run before Pau, from which she ultimately withdrew.

“I felt we needed to come out and prove that that was just a blip – all of last season, as short as it was, I hadn’t had a cross-country fault, and I felt like I was riding really well for a change, because I’m always really critical of how much I take a check here and there. So then I went to Little Downham and had a disaster, and I went to Thoresby and had 20 penalties on a really nice six-year-old, and a 20 in the six-year-olds at Le Lion – and I just thought, ‘I wish I’d quit [while I was ahead]’,” she says. “It all just fell apart for whatever reason, and it makes you doubt yourself – so it’s nice to come out and say it was just a blip and it was just a bad day.”

Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around follow their win in the CCI4*-L here last year with third place in the tough CCI4*-S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around won here in September in the Blenheim replacement’s CCI4*-L feature class, and like Vendredi Biats, the result had come after some wobbles on the road to the top. But as Izzy lamented to EN yesterday, wobbles are part of the process – it’s just that most young horses get to make their educational mistakes well out of the spotlight. A third place finish here today – which they claimed after adding a solitary pole to their 25.9 dressage – proves that last year’s return to form wasn’t a fluke.

Oliver Townend and MHS King Joules take fourth place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Oliver Townend follows his partner Izzy on the leaderboard, landing fifth place with the experienced MHS King Joules, who returns this season after taking sixth at Pau last year. It’s rather an unfamiliar position for Oliver at this event – he tends to use Burnham Market’s spring fixture as a prep run for his top horses’ early-season long-format efforts, but with both Cooley Master Class and Ballaghmor Class already in Kentucky, it was a weekend for his second string to take precedence. And so his usually unassailable grip on the Burnham Market crown was loosened – and a surprise fall from withdrawn Kentucky entry Tregilder early on in the course saw it slacken further. Nevertheless, he still took a victory elsewhere: he won the CCI3*-S aboard his 2020 Le Lion d’Anger ride Cooley Rosalent, who looks set for an extraordinary upper-level career.

Piggy March and Fonbherna Lancer round out the top five. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

That’s all from us from a jam-packed three days at Burnham Market – and now, it’s full steam ahead to Kentucky. We’ll see you in the Bluegrass state.

The final top ten in section C of the CCI4*-S.

Burnham Market: Website | Entries, Times and Live Scores | Course Preview | EN’s Coverage | EN’s Twitter | EN’s Instagram

Laura Collett and London 52 produce a typically sparkling performance to head CCI4*-S section C. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Almost as though inspired by Piggy March’s three-way lead yesterday (plus that bonus fifth and sixth place), the second day of dressage in Burnham Market’s two CCI4*-S sections saw a number of repeat appearances in the top ten. Chief among those was dancing queen Laura Collett, who now leads both sections after impressive performances from both her top horses and up-and-comer Dacapo.

No one is ever surprised to see London 52 atop the leaderboard after this phase, and he emerges for his 2021 season looking, somehow, even more polished and professional than before. Though his 23.8 doesn’t threaten to topple his previous four-star personal best of 20.3, it was a joy to watch the now twelve-year-old Holsteiner work both in the collecting ring and in the arena. While it might feel rather la-dee-dah to compare dressage to poetry or its ilk, there’s been something musical about London 52’s extraordinary mastery of this phase over the last couple of years – but now, Laura has levelled up his physical strength over the winter and his showpiece trot work is further embellished by as much upward thrust as there is forward thrust, giving the gait a hint of what almost looks like passage.

That he’s stronger physically – and, almost certainly, mentally – should come as no surprise after his wire-to-wire victory in his debut CCI5* at Pau last year. His excellent half-season also saw him win the CCI4*-S at Little Downham and finish fourth at the same level at Burgham, and Laura credited his victory in Boekelo’s CCI4*-L at the end of the 2019 season as being the catalyst for his newfound competitiveness after what had otherwise been a largely educational year for the relatively inexperienced gelding. Though he’d only begun his eventing career in earnest as a seven-year-old, his early successes had ensured that he had the spotlight firmly on him as he climbed the levels – a double-edged sword in the sport of eventing, a discipline in which most young horses have to overcome some genuine, green errors in order to learn and grow. 2019 was the year for that growth for London 52, and while he and Laura have reaped the benefits of both the lows and the highs in his ongoing education, they’ve had to do it with the beady eyes of the eventing world on them throughout. But if Boekelo proved their point and strengthened their resolve, Pau will have done so twofold – and now, Laura and London 52 look truly unstoppable.

Izzy Taylor’s Monkeying Around gets serious. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

If anyone can commiserate with Laura and London 52’s tumultuous 2019, it’s Izzy Taylor. She won the Six-Year-Old World Championship back in 2017 with her own and Mark Sartori’s Monkeying Around, a dressage-bred Hanoverian, and this cemented their own place in the spotlight. Upon returning to Le Lion d’Angers for the Seven-Year-Old World Championship, though, they clocked up a green 20 penalties across the country – and then they did so again in the gelding’s first CCI4*-S at Burnham Market in 2019, and again at the same level at Chatsworth a month later, and then again in his CCI4*-L debut at Blenheim at the end of that year. In 2020, after Covid-19 stretched the off-season on until July, they emerged to take third place in the CCI4*-S at Burgham and then win the CCI4*-L held here in September. What changed? Just the same as what changes for any other young horse: he made the necessary green mistakes and he learned from them.

“Because he won Le Lion as a six-year old, everyone thinks he’s about twenty years old – but he’s only ten. It’s easy to get frustrated, but sometimes I have to give myself a shake and think, ‘come on, he’s ten’ – or nine, last season. And, touch wood, I think we’re heading in the right direction. He’s an exciting horse, and it’s so rewarding because I’ve had him since a four-year-old,” says Izzy, who posted a 25.9 with the gelding to move into joint second place overnight, sharing the spot with yesterday’s leaders Piggy March and Brookfield Inocent.

“He thinks it’s all quite fun – and if it’s not fun, he’ll make it fun,” she says with a laugh. “We named him Monkeying Around for a reason. He’s a fantastic horse and so talented – I love him, which is a good thing, because sometimes I don’t love him so much! But he’s growing up, and for the first time I actually thought, ‘this is a little dull’ in the trot.”

That, Izzy explains, is a turning point for the gelding, who has consistently scored extremely well in this phase with his extravagant work in the ring.

“For the more grown-up horses, there’s no atmosphere here – there never is, and that’s not anyone’s fault,” she says, referring to the quiet, utilitarian dressage arenas on top of the hill at the venue – far closer in feel to the maze of arenas at a one-day event than those at the major three-days or, indeed, like the main arena at Le Lion d’Angers, where the horse excelled in his six-year-old year. “We’re getting to the point now that we’re both excited to add in the crowds and the big atmospheres.”

Among Izzy’s other rides here this weekend is nine-year-old Hartacker – sixth overnight in section B – who led the dressage in the eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S here in September but then faulted across the country – a fair and educational mistake for a horse with just two years of eventing experience under his belt at that stage, but one that was more heavily scrutinised purely by dint of his prominence in the class.

“If he hadn’t been in the lead, no one would have noticed,” she shrugs, pointing out that the phenomenon is much the same for any high-profile young horse whose progression is under close observation: an error, or several errors, due to inexperience doesn’t mean that the horse won’t be capable of a highly successful top-level career, it’s simply that more people are watching them make the common mistakes that most young horses get to make long before anyone has ever heard of them.

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats produce the goods yet again. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Kitty King and a bleached-in-the-wash Vendredi Biats have been formidable in this phase on several occasions, but the gelding’s personality is as big as his range of movement, which has sometimes caused expensive errors in the past. Today, though, he looked every inch the seasoned campaigner and produced a ‘clear round’ test for a score of 27.5, earning them overnight fifth place behind Piggy March and Dargun. They’re followed by Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir – winners here in last year’s Blenheim eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S replacement – on 27.8 and in sixth place, and Oliver Townend and his experienced CCI5* campaigner MHS King Joules, seventh on 28.1.

Ros Canter and Allstar B produce a steady test to take a spot in the top ten. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Though reigning World Champions Ros Canter and Allstar B were smooth and largely fault-free in the arena, the lack of atmosphere precluded any of the extra sparkle that can see them score in the very low 20s and below. Instead, their test was workmanlike and functional, earning them a 28.2 for eighth place going into tomorrow’s jumping phases.

Ben Hobday and Shadow Man close out the day’s proceedings with a competitive mark. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ben Hobday‘s Shadow Man II was another horse to emerge from the off-season looking as though he’d been bench-pressing hay bales through the winter, and he closed out the day’s proceedings atop the hill with a smart, expressive test and a final score of 28.5, which was slightly scuppered by a not-entirely-square halt at the end of the test – but members of the Event Horse Owners Syndicate, who have been been able to ‘buy in’ to the horse for just £250, were delighted to get the chance to see the eleven-year-old gelding in action and looking so well ahead of an exciting year, in which Ben hopes to step ‘Fidgy’ up to CCI5.* Rounding out the top ten is Bubby Upton and her 2019 Young Rider Europeans silver medalist Cola III on a score of 28.7.

Laura Collett and her 2020 Pau winner London 52 will lead the way in CCI4*-S section C as we head into tomorrow’s jumping phases.

Mr Bass heads to the top of the leaderboard for Laura Collett. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“Chuck felt like he could actually do dressage!” laughed Laura Collett as she emerged from the ring aboard Mr Bass, who leads section C on a personal best score of 24 – though that’s not to suggest that he’s been a slouch in this phase previously. Though the gelding – who Laura has previously joked is ‘built like a wheelbarrow’ – finds dressage much harder than his twinkle-toed stablemate London 52, he’s a consummate trier, putting scores in the 20s on the board without fail and then, more often than can be considered normal, finishing on those scores. But that innate inclination to try has sometimes made the job harder than it needs to be for Chuck.

“It’s led to mistakes because he’s just that character that thinks he knows everything. He thinks he knows what you’re going to do, and so he wouldn’t let you actually ask for it,” she explains. “But now he’s physically stronger and mentally, he’s in a great place.”

Determined not to be overshadowed, Laura Collett’s Dacapo hoists himself into second place after dressage. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Because taking the double lead just isn’t enough, Laura also produced a 25.1 aboard Dacapo to sit in second place as we look towards tomorrow’s showjumping and cross-country. Though he’s delivered scores like this a number of times before – including a 23.3 in the CCI4*-S at Bramham in 2019 – he’s equally capable of fluctuating up to the low 30s, as he did on both his international outings in 2020. But his work today looked mature and established – perhaps a sign of consistency to come in 2021.

Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden add another excellent score to their record for overnight fourth. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden begin their season with very nearly the same dressage score they ended last season on – they posted a 25.4 today to sit fourth behind yesterday’s leaders Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street, while their last international saw them earn a 25.5 in the debut CCI5* at Pau, where they ultimately finished tenth.

Alex Hua Tian’s Jilsonne van Bareelhoff takes hold of fifth place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sixth place overnight goes to China’s Alex Hua Tian and the twelve-year-old Jilsonne van Bareelhoff in what is just the horse’s seventh international. They earned a mark of 26.5, half a mark better than in the gelding’s level debut here in September, when they finished 14th.

A matched set: Kitty King enters the top ten for the second time in one day on Cristal Fontaine – another striking grey gelding. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Not content with just occupying a spot in section B’s top ten, Kitty King nabbed ninth place overnight in section C aboard Cristal Fontaine, who stepped up to the level here in September of last year, finishing third in the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds held as part of the Blenheim replacement fixture. They earned a 28.1 for their test, which was only marred by one minor mistake in the lengthy walk section, in which Cristal Fontaine opted to add in an unwarranted halt in one of the pirouettes.

“He’s very good at standing still,” says Kitty wryly. But, she says, “His way of going is improving all the time and I was really pleased with him, particularly how he coped with the uneven arena in balance.”

For Kitty, making plans for the year ahead is as foggy a prospect as it is for any of her compatriots, but she’s combatting that by keeping her options as wide open as can be.

“He hasn’t done a CCI4*-L yet, so he’ll do one somewhere – perhaps Bicton – wherever we can get to, really,” she says breezily.

Tomorrow sees the jumping phases play out in their entirety, with showjumping starting just before noon and cross-country commencing shortly thereafter. You can sneak a peek at Alec Lochore’s cross-country test here. We’ll be back tomorrow with a bumper final report from Britain’s first international of 2020 – so keep it locked onto EN and Go Eventing!

It’s a double-header in CCI4*-S Section B for Laura Collett, who sits first and second with Mr Bass and Dacapo at the conclusion of the first phase.

Burnham Market: Website | Entries, Times and Live Scores | Course Preview | EN’s Coverage | EN’s Twitter | EN’s Instagram

Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street. (Apologies for the photos in this post, folks – your loyal British correspondent was battling shooting into the sun all day!) Photo (shame-facedly) by Tilly Berendt.

“It’s such a shame,” ruminates Pippa Funnell, leader of CCI4*-S section B at the Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International Horse Trials aboard MGH Grafton Street. “When he won Burghley [in 2019], he did it as a young five-star horse at eleven – and now, suddenly, he’ll be fourteen before he gets to Badminton. It’s crazy.”

Such is the reality of the ongoing pandemic where the production of a top horse is concerned, and it’s a sentiment that’s been widely echoed throughout the day by a number of riders facing yet another year of uncertainty. “I don’t have a plan for the year yet because I don’t know what’ll run,” is a common thread; “it’s hard to put in the hours without feeling as though you have an end goal” is another. Most, by now, have learned not to get excited about a major event until they’ve arrived and unloaded the horses – and that means striking a tricky balance between not doing quite enough to keep horses fit and prepared and overcooking the stew.

Nevertheless, it was a treat to see Pippa and her Burghley victor, known at home as Squirrel, back in action in today’s unseasonably summery conditions – particularly in this, a phase at which Jonathan and Jane Clarke’s cheeky gelding has historically excelled. His work today was sparky and fun to watch, a sentiment evidently echoed by the judges, who rewarded it with a 25.4.

“There were a few little bits where he was quite bright, but the highlights were very good,” says Pippa, who jokingly named ‘walking out of the arena on a long rein’ as the top of those highlights. “It’s a work in progress, but on the whole I was pleased.”

It’s not at all shabby, considering the horse didn’t run in any internationals in 2020 and still, Pippa tells EN, remembers the wild excitement of the Burghley prize giving.

“I was a bit poorly for a while and off games, and so the horses didn’t run [internationally] – I put them to bed,” she says, explaining that she gave the horse two national runs. Nonetheless, Squirrel’s unique character – which has occasionally caused some focusing issues in the past on cross-country – prevails. “He’s just cheeky; he’s a monkey. He thinks he’s a comedian, whether that’s in the stable, the field, the lorry…he’s always the one that’s doing tricks. He definitely comes out and is more excited to be out since Burghley; we forget the effect of the prize giving and all the goings-on. Now, he’s definitely a bit more like  ‘oooh, we’re at a party!'”

Izzy Taylor edged into second place with Hartacker, who led in this phase last year at the Blenheim-replacement CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds. Though today’s 26.9 doesn’t quite rival his extraordinary 20.3 in that event, it’s an exciting test for the nine-year-old who proves, in just his second four-star outing, that he’s no flash in the pan. Though he ultimately didn’t take glory here last year because of a green mistake on cross-country, he finished his 2020 season with an educational victory in the CCI3*-L at Thoresby, and looks older, wiser, and stronger this year for his second attempt.

Ros Canter sits in third place overnight riding another nine-year-old – Lordships Graffalo, who finished second in that very same CCI4*-S last year after spending the 2019 season being piloted by Tom McEwen, deputising for Ros during her maternity leave from the sport. This is the gelding’s eighth international run; in his previous seven, he’s never finished lower than eleventh place, and he’ll certainly be a horse to keep a close eye on as the event – and the season – progresses.

New Zealand’s Caroline Powell elbowed her way into a sea of high-achieving Brits to take overnight fourth place aboard Up Up And Away, her fifteen-year-old CCI5* mount who returned to international competition in the latter half of last year, two years after his previous – and admittedly, rather up and down – season in 2018. Whatever Caroline’s been doing with him in that interim period has done wonders – his score of 27.2 today, and a 27.8 at Burgham last summer, are a marked step up from the low-to-mid 30s he’s consistently produced in years prior. For the striking grey gelding, this weekend will be all about redemption: their 2020 season ended with an unfortunate 20 penalties picked up in the tough CCI4*-S at Little Downham, curtailing their plans for a trip to Pau.

Piggy March and Sportsfield Top Notch. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Fifth and sixth place are both held by Piggy March, who also sits first, second, and third in the other CCI4*-S section. Leading her charge here is 2019 Badminton winner Vanir Kamira, fifth on 28.7 – not, as a glitch in the scoring system proudly proclaimed for much of the afternoon, a 50.9 – follows by the nine-year-old Sportsfield Top Notch, who posted a 29.1 in this, his four-star debut. For Piggy and husband Tom, this is a particularly special up-and-comer, as they own him outright.

“He’s pretty green, and he can be a bit hot, so I was just delighted with the fact that we got through it. He’s had a good experience and hopefully he’ll come on a lot from that. He’s a nice, big horse, though he’s probably a little bit behind some of the fancy ones as he’s taken a bit of time to mature physically and mentally. He’s ours, so we’ve just given him that time.”

Though Piggy’s end-of-day results are enviable, the logistics of her day were, perhaps, less so: with an abundance of horses to compete today, it rather felt as though she was always either in the warm-up arena or the ring, with nary a break in between.

“I’ve done all five of them pretty quickly today, so I haven’t been able to get them out and work them a few times. That just makes such a difference when you get to the three-days and are there for a couple of days, but it is what it is! A horse like Vanir Kamira, she’s a pain in the arse at the best of times and so you really do need to be in the same place and doing things with her, but we just have to do what we can do.”

Whatever she has for breakfast, we want some. Tomorrow’s dressage continues – and concludes – with a full roster of competitors, including Kazuma Tomoto and Bernadette Utopia, Kitty King and former Six-Year-Old World Champion Cristal Fontaine, Mollie Summerland and Charly van ter Heiden, James Avery and Mr Sneezy, and Laura Collett and Mr Bass.

Burghley winners Pippa Funnell and MGH Grafton Street lead the way at the end of day one in Burnham Market’s CCI4*-S B section.

Piggy March and Brookfield Inocent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s hard to imagine an off-form Piggy March after the last few seasons of total domination, and that got even harder today as she took a remarkable 1-2-3 in the first day of dressage for Section C of the CCI4*-S offerings. Leading the way is John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburne’s Brookfield Inocent, who we last saw finishing second in his CCI5* debut at Pau in October. Now, he’s at the head of Piggy’s formidable string of horses vying for a position on the Tokyo squad this summer, and as is his wont, he produced a typically elegant and expressive test for 25.9. Though it doesn’t quite match the low-20s marks he produced last year – including at Pau – it’ll prove a tough score to beat in a section that saw just Piggy’s three leaders slip below the 30 barrier. Nevertheless, Piggy felt that there was room for improvement in the test.

“He only had half an hour [of work] before his test and so he went very light in the canter, and just slightly got his tongue over the bit, which he can do but hasn’t ever done in a competition,” she explains. “So I never sat there thinking, ‘boom!’ But he didn’t really do a lot wrong – and he’s out, which is the main thing. You work hard to come to these events and do the best you can, but it’s also about being realistic: a lot of these horses are great competition horses and so they can’t just arrive somewhere new, and it’s on top of a hill and cold and sunny and bright, and do it perfectly every time. You have to just get on with it and take the good points.”

Though there had been some hope of seeing Brookfield Inocent on the entry list for Kentucky, which he had been aimed at in 2020, the decision was made not to make the long journey across the Atlantic this year with the horse, who both Piggy and husband Tom describe fondly as a rare horse who would suit any course. Still, says Piggy, the feeling of a countdown to something major is something she’s been missing enormously over the last year.

“I do envy those riders going to Kentucky, because it’s given them something to aim for,” she says. “It’s frustrating at the moment because you sort of think, ‘well, what’s the aim?’ You live in hope that the Olympics is what we’re going for, but in the same breath, what if it doesn’t happen? I know we’re luckier than many people in these circumstances, because we can still get out and do it, but it’s hard for these great owners and great horses. You’re missing a few years for these great horses who just don’t come around that often.”

Piggy March and Dargun sit second overnight. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Just a penalty point behind Brookfield Inocent sits Dargun, the former Emily King ride who joined Piggy’s string last year and has finished in the top three twice out of three FEI runs with his new jockey. He’ll go into Sunday’s jumping phases on a score of 26.9, which he earned when producing what Piggy considers her test of the day.

“That was my clear round,” she says. “I thought he was lovely; I really couldn’t fault him in any way. I had hoped he might have just squeaked a bit of a better mark than he did, but it’s very good.”

Piggy March and Fonbherna Lancer. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Holding down the fort in third is yet another relatively new ride – this time, Izzy Taylor’s former mount Fonbherna Lancer who, for all his wonderful qualities, is perhaps most memorable for his striking likeness to an old Munnings painting. Though the early part of his test looked very slightly disconnected, it improved throughout and his canter work – after a small mistake in the first transition – looked focused, connected, and indicative of a horse who has physically strengthened over a long winter of careful schooling.

“It was rider error; I should have been brave and gone with it,” says Piggy of the mistake, which saw Fonbherna Lancer break to canter moments too early. In the test, Piggy opted to transition back down and then up into canter on the marker. “Other than that, though, I was happy with it – his changes were all clean and he was a good boy.”

Tina Cook and Billy the Red. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It was rather a good day in the office across the board for the women of the British team: Tina Cook and Billy the Red hold fourth place on a mark of 30.2, which is rather higher than we’re used to seeing from the seasoned campaigners, who have worked hard to diffuse this phase after a spate of tension following the 2017 European Championships. A break in the trot work precluded a lower mark, though scores were earned back with plenty of quality work from the pair.

Sarah Bullimore and Corouet. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sarah Bullimore rounds out the top five on the diminutive – and occasionally opinionated – Corouet, who posted a rather higher-than-usual 30.9 after looking, like many horses presented today, slightly fresh and distracted in the ring. Now in just his ten-year-old year, the 15.2hh gelding out of Sarah’s former top horse Lilly Corinne and by the notoriously spicy Balou du Rouet has always had a sense of humour, but it’s this quality that has made him into a feisty, clever, and ineffably genuine horse across the country, too. Though Sarah will likely be disappointed not to put a mid-20s score on the board, we last saw the pair finish third here in last season’s Blenheim-replacement CCI4*-L, adding nothing to their first-phase score – and that’s a feat they’re certainly capable of recreating this weekend.

Nini French and Time For Harry soak up the sunshine. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tomorrow’s dressage session features another slew of heavy-hitting combinations, including Yasmin Ingham’s Bansai du Loir, winner of the Blenheim-replacement CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds last season, Izzy Taylor‘s CCI4*-L winner Monkeying Around, Laura Collett‘s Pau victor London 52, World Champions Ros Canter and Allstar B, Kitty King‘s Bramham winner Vendredi Biats, and plenty more where that came from. How’s that for a Super Saturday?

Welcome to the Pig-pen: the top ten after day one of dressage in section C of the CCI4*-S is dominated by Britain’s leading lady.

Burnham Market: Website | Entries, Times and Live Scores | Course Preview | EN’s Coverage | EN’s Twitter | EN’s Instagram