Ros Canter and Allstar B. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Pandemic or no pandemic, when Burgham — or, more specifically, course designer David Evans — builds his tracks, he builds them properly, offering a great feeling for those who get it right and an easy escape out the side door for those who don’t. There was much speculation across the two dressage days over whether he’d have managed to strike the balance, something that’s even more crucial than usual this year: the course would need to flow and encourage, allowing both horses and riders to remember all the gears and find that long-dormant special something that you can only tap into when your blood’s up, but it would also need to pack enough of a punch to make its own mark upon the leaderboard in the two fiercely competitive, top-class four-star sections.

153 combinations would start across the two sections, and straight off the bat, the course proved wholly jumpable — a point that would be proven throughout the day, with 141 of those starters completing to give the course a completion rate of just over 92%. (As a point of comparison, Kentucky CCI5* tends to sit at around a 58% completion rate, and although this is a level below — and notably, a short-format international — this number shows us that it clearly ticked the ‘jumpability’ box.)

Of those 141 combinations to finish the course, 126 would do so without adding jumping penalties — this time giving us a clear-round rate of just over 82%. If this is all sounding rather dull and easy, let’s take a look at another stat — and one that really did put a bit of pressure on the competitors today. That, of course, is the time.

An optimum time of 6:18 and a course full of twisting loops in and out of fields and over hills meant that romping home without accruing time penalties was going to be far harder said than done. In total, just eight of the 153 combinations would manage it. Those who couldn’t would find themselves clinging by a thread to their hopes of staying in situ on the leaderboard.

“We didn’t come here to win”: Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class take their second Burgham title. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Neither of the two section winners would come home sans time faults, but despite the swiftly dwindling gap left by their modicum of time faults, the titles would go to both of the dressage leaders.

The first of these would be 2018 Burgham CCI4*-S winners Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class, who left the start box on a two-phase score of 22.2 after adding 0.8 time penalties in showjumping. Of all the rounds we saw through the day, this was the one that looked the easiest. The fences were, of course, no problem for the Burghley-winning combination, the lanky gelding made molehills out of the mountains, and the clock — so hard to catch for so many — seemed to tick along in stride. In the end, their winning score of 24.2 would set a new record as the lowest-ever finishing score in a CCI4*-S at Burgham. But the plan, remarkably, had never actually been to run for the win here, as Oliver explains.

“He’s at his peak in terms of everything he does, and how he feels, and how he looks. He’s been ridden on the flat maybe half-a-dozen times max since March; he’s just been hacking about and being himself. He’s done very little and been under no pressure at all. Then he had a run at Cholmondeley where he was very good and very professional, but he didn’t come here to win. He just came so I could remind him that he’s not retired. If he was in a position to win, we’d let him, of course.”

For Oliver, who rates the son of Courage II as one of the best horses he’s ever sat on, it was a given that Burgham would offer up a useful course and great ground — but the cherry on the cake was the quality of the competitive field, which saw one of the biggest CCI4*-S entries in British history. That Ballaghmor Class is just edging into the peak of his career certainly allowed the typically competitive duo to stay out in front.

“He found it very, very easy; he’s not been galloping as much as he normally would have been, but he tightens up very quickly now as an older horse. He’s very fit in his mind, too, and when he pulled up he was hardly blowing. It’s all very much within his comfort zone.

“I set off between fence one and two and thought, ‘right, I’m not going any faster — either that’s quick enough to win, or not. It doesn’t matter.’ We basically just stayed opened up all the way and picked up good distances where we could. He was very straightforward.”

Unlike many of the other competitors here, Oliver isn’t looking ahead to a long-format in 2020 with his top horse. Instead, he’ll leave Ballaghmor Class and stablemate Cooley Master Class for next season, while aiming for long-format runs with his second string — including Cillnabradden Evo and Miss Cooley, who took the two CCI3*-S sections here this week, too. This news could come as some consolation to his weary competitors — perhaps with two of the best horses in the world giving Pau a miss, everyone else might get a look-in — but if this week’s performances are anything to go by, Oliver and his string only get steadily more impossible to beat after a bit of well-earned time off.

Ros Canter and Allstar B notch up another win as World Champions, taking home the CCI4*-S section M honours. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Where Oliver found the whole competition rather easy, section M winner Ros Canter found the whole experience rather harder — but not because of any lack of experience or scope. Instead, she struggled to evade the pressure of her first major public appearance with her reigning World Champion Allstar B since they took that title back in 2018. Shortly after winning, Ros hung up her boots to have her first child, and although the pair tackled — and won — Ballindenisk CCI4*-L last year, they did so quietly, slipping under the radar to keep the pressure off.

“To be quite honest, I felt a huge amount of pressure. I can’t say I really enjoyed it,” says Ros of her competition here. “It’s been a long time, really, since I’ve competed him, and up against the top combinations. It’s also the first time we’ve been up against some of the riders’ newer top horses — the fresher faces. So I definitely felt the pressure. Alby’s a bit of a lazy old man anyway, so lockdown hasn’t been the easiest in terms of me getting the best feel out of him. But he’s amazing — he did one run two weeks ago, and within hours, he’d tightened up and leaned up and knew that he was off and running, and he’s been a pleasure ever since. He’s amazing like that, really.”

Ros and Alby’s win came after an unfortunate start to the day when Ros took a crunching tumble with her first ride, Pencos Crown Jewel, at a single table at the back end of the course.

“The mare was a little over-brave today; she was quite feisty to showjump, too, which isn’t like her. She’s ordinarily a very careful and thoughtful horse — normally you gallop in and she draws back, but that didn’t happen today. I was riding a different horse to the one I got at that jump,” she explains with a laugh. Both horse and rider were up and walking away quickly after the fall, and Ros admits to only a very minor amount of soreness after the semi-rotational. More pressing, however, was her need to mentally regroup.

“I can’t confess to being the bravest cross-country rider, so I had to give myself a talking to a little bit,” she says. “I had a first-time four-star horse to get straight back on, and he really rose to the occasion and gave me confidence. Chris Bartle did his usual thing; he didn’t give me the option and just said to me, ‘when you go inside the time…’ [with Alby]. So I had to just sit down and pep myself up a bit!”

This marks a first-ever CCI4*-S win for the World Champions, who would ordinarily use these classes as something of a glorified training exercise.

“He’s a three-day specialist, really — it’s easier for me if the jumps are a little bit further away from each other. The twists and the turns aren’t always easy; he’s a big lad and he takes a bit of time to turn and get into the shape. It felt very fast today!”

Taking the win here, amongst this company and under the watchful eye of a keen and waiting live-stream viewership, is a huge box ticked for Ros, who now feels she can get back to the important job of embracing the partnership she’s built with Alby.

“I keep telling myself I have to just enjoy him, too. He’s getting older now and I won’t have him for many more years, so hopefully after today I can really just enjoy it, and hopefully he can keep coming out and doing so.”

Laura Collett and Mr Bass make the most of their comeback competition, finishing second in section L. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

One of the most poignant parts of the competition was watching Laura Collett‘s Mr Bass tackle his comeback with aplomb after an injury at Badminton last season sidelined him for over a year. Prior to that injury, his ability to finish on his dressage score — or FOD, as those in the know call it — had become the stuff of eventing legend. This week, he made the best of his inaugural outing by doing exactly the thing he’s known for, adding nothing to his dressage score of 25.8. That would be enough to finish second to Oliver and Ballaghmor Class (but let’s be honest, first in the hearts of his fans).

Sarah Bullimore and Reve du Rouet take home third place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Third place in section L went to longtime partners Sarah Bullimore and Reve du Rouet, who produced a steady, classy round to add 5.6 time penalties. Had they gone inside the time, they’d have won this section — but Reve du Rouet, or Blou, is 16 this year, and although he’s looking perhaps the best he ever has, it was great to see Sarah give him a fun run around his first international of 2020, rather than chasing the clock.

Yasmin Ingham and Rehy DJ scoop fourth place in section L. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It was a good day for young British talent, and indeed for those who enjoy spotting tomorrow’s superstars today. Yasmin Ingham is the only rider to have won every single British title from Ponies through to the U25 title, and she’s become a formidable entity on the senior circuit, too. Today, she showed her knack for efficiency, piloting the striking Rehy DJ around to earn one of the rare clear rounds inside the time, finishing fourth after adding just 0.4 time penalties in the showjumping.

Last year’s winners, Kitty King and Vendredi Biats, are fifth in this year’s attempt. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For last year’s winners Kitty King and Vendredi Biats, the win has been so near and yet so achingly far throughout each phase. Two mistakes in their dressage test pushed a potentially exceptional score down to a still-very-respectable 24.8, and they were one of many combinations to fault over Di Boddy’s big, square showjumping track. The addition of just 1.2 time faults saw them move from third to eventual fifth place, cementing another year of bankable form here, but precluding their chance for glory.

Sarah Bullimore’s diminutive homebred Corouet takes seventh place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sarah Bullimore, on the other hand, had much to celebrate with two horses in the top ten in this section. Seventh place went to 15.2hh homebred Corouet, who shares the same Balou du Rouet bloodlines as stablemate Blou, and is out of Sarah’s former European Championships mount Lilly Corinne. Though he’s smaller and less experienced than much of the field, he’s one of several young horses who looks to have found himself in the long break, and he tackled the course brimming with confidence to add just 3.6 time penalties and slot in behind Nicola Wilson and JL Dublin, who finished on their dressage score of 30.3 for sixth. Young rider individual silver medallists Bubby Upton and Cola finished eighth after adding just 0.8 showjumping time faults to their 30.9 dressage, while Hector Payne and Dynasty took ninth place after setting an early precedent with their fast clear round. Oliver Townend and Dreamliner, on whom he took the ride last season, popped neatly and conservatively round after taking a pole in the prior phase, finishing tenth and bookending the top of the leaderboard.

Oliver Townend bookends the top of the leaderboard in section L, taking tenth place aboard Dreamliner. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Like section M, section L was largely the domain of a bevy of exceptional British women – though the win, in the end, was a closely-fought thing between two of the very best. While Ros would eventually win out, she beat Piggy March and her 2019 Blenheim CCI4*-L winner Brookfield Inocent by just a nerve-wracking one-tenth of a penalty point when Allstar B’s 0.8 time penalties came up against Piggy’s penalty-free round, earned when producing the fastest time of the day around David Evans‘ track. Still, we expect Piggy might be bored of winning things now, after her 2019 season.

Piggy March misses a win by a tenth of a penalty, settling for second with Tokyo hopeful Brookfield Inocent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

In any case, it’s promising form for the relatively inexperienced Brookfield Inocent, who stepped into Quarrycrest Echo’s enormous shoes as Piggy’s likeliest option for next year’s Tokyo Olympics after the team stalwart was sold to Japan over the winter.

Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around — seen here in inexplicably close focus — add an exciting result to the horse’s record, finishing third. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

One of the biggest question marks of the day surely hung over Izzy Taylor‘s Monkeying Around, the former Six-Year-Old World Champion who was day one’s dressage leader and record-breaker. Despite his obvious proclivity for the first phase and his undeniable ability in the second two, his record since moving up to four-star last year has been a bit of a rollercoaster. In six starts at the level, he started cross-country four times — and delivered a clear round just once. He also failed to deliver a single clear showjumping round at any of those competitions.

But some horses need a simple prescription to cure their issues: time. The Bertoli W x Donnerhall gelding is just a nine-year-old this season; he’s dressage-bred, rather than blessed with bloodlines that might make the job a fraction more innate; he’s big, rangy, and needed time to grow into himself, mentally and physically. It would be amiss to assume that one great week — in which he added just 0.4 time in showjumping and 1.6 in cross-country — means that he’s on the straight and narrow for life, but there was a marked difference in the way he tackled the job out on course here, and it’s safe enough to assume that the removal of pressure has been a significant contributing factor.

A self-assured London 52 gives Laura Collett her second top-five CCI4*-S placing of the day. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The same could be said — though to a different extent — for Laura Collett‘s London 52, who has always been a ferocious talent, but who had a few blips last season. His 2019, which was bookended by wins at Chatsworth’s Event Rider Masters leg and at Boekelo, saw him retire at Bramham, pick up a late 20 while leading at Aachen, and deposit Laura at the influential bird in the water at the European Championships. The rebuilding of confidence was certainly the name of the game, and the run-and-jump course at Boekelo served as a way to reintroduce the fun of the game to the horse. Now, after a long period waiting out the pandemic, Laura tells us he’s grown into himself mentally, has overcome his worrier mentality, and is confident and self-assured in his work. Watching him storm around the CCI4*-S track inside the time like it was a schooling exercise, there was never any doubt.

She might fly under the radar sometimes, but Emilie Chandler can play with the big boys. She and Gortfadda Diamond finish fifth. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

2019 Blair CCI4*-L winners Emilie Chandler and Gortfadda Diamond might not have been the most obvious top ten candidates in this enormous, star-powered field, but actually, they boast one of the most consistent records in the competition. Previously produced by Mark and Tanya Kyle, the Irish gelding hasn’t had a single cross-country jumping fault since Emilie took the reins in 2017, and in nine internationals together, they’ve finished in the top ten seven times — and never outside of the top twenty. A 25.2 in the first-phase gave them an easy edge — and bettered their low-30s average — and a clean, quick skip around the to add just 0.4 time penalties across the jumping phases saw them finish fifth, ahead of another Blair winning pair, Oliver Townend and Tregilder, who took the CCI4*-S there in 2018. They delivered one of the eight clears inside the time today, though a rail and 0.4 time penalties pushed them down the pack by a couple of placings.

Oliver Townend pilots Tregilder to sixth place in section M. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Kiwi James Avery was probably rather glad for his recent move from Wiltshire to Yorkshire, where he’s now based with fiancé  Holly Woodhead at her father Ian’s DHI Event Horses, because the relocation will have cut hours off his journey to get here. He was likely even more glad of the time spent ironing out Mr Sneezy‘s first-phase performances; their dressage score was a very good 26.9, lightyears ahead of the mid-to-high-30s scores they’d been totting up previously. Though their season ended with an annoying 20 at their first five-star at Pau, it’ll have served as a useful learning moment – and they seem none the worse for it, cantering home clear with just 1.6 time penalties here for seventh place.

He might not be conventional, but Mr Sneezy proves he has talent to burn, finishing seventh with New Zealand’s James Avery. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Nicola Wilson was one of the stars of the show in her return to international competition following a broken neck last summer. Not only did she earn eighth place in this section with her European bronze medallist Bulana and sixth in section L with the exciting JL Dublin, she also delivered two of the just six FODs of the competition, putting herself firmly back on the radar for the Tokyo hunt.

Nicola Wilson and Bulana return to international competition on flying form, finishing eighth. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Next year’s team will almost certainly be made up of stalwart campaigners, but one rider who’ll have her eye on future appearances is Yasmin Ingham, who appeared in both the section M and L top-ten this week.

Yasmin Ingham’s Banzai du Loir makes easy work of his first CCI4*-S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Her ninth-place finisher Banzai du Loir only tackled his first Advanced national class a week ago at Aston-le-Walls, but the nine-year-old gelding, who was produced up until the middle of the 2019 season by France’s Axel Coutte, has been able to amass a wealth of experience with Yas over the last year or so. In their inaugural half-season last year, he ran well, though relatively conservatively, around Intermediate tracks as they cemented their relationship, and this year, through careful planning, he’s managed to enjoy six pre-Burgham runs, despite the pandemic. Now, with seven under his belt, he’s only finished out of the top ten once — and that was an 11th place at Aske. A 27.9 here didn’t quite threaten the leaders, but a classy clear over the poles and then a meagre two time penalties across the country proved that Banzai du Loir is a horse we should all be watching.

Bubby Upton and Cannavaro round out the top ten in section M. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The section M top ten was rounded out by Bubby Upton and Cannavaro, who climbed the leaderboard after adding just 1.6 time penalties to their 28.9 dressage. This is an exciting result for the 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood, who hasn’t historically been the quickest of Bubby’s string, finishing 12th here last year with 11.6 time penalties.

Though much of the day made for pleasant viewing, a few high-profile combinations did fall victim to the subtle complexities of the course. Fence eight — a wide table with a gently sloping approach — was removed between sections L and M after Ros Canter took her early, crunching tumble with Pencos Crown Jewel. Several would fault at the four-part final combination, too, including Barocca CCI4*-L winners Padraig McCarthy and Leonidas II, who parted company at the final element, leaving the Irishman slamming his fist into the ground in frustration. Tom Rowland withdrew the remainder of his horses after a tumble from MGH Maybe A Mission, and a loose Jims Pal very nearly joined Oliver Townend and Dreamliner through the final combination after depositing rider Michael Owen.

Now, we look ahead to the Blenheim replacement, to be held at Burnham Market from September 17-20. This will be a first long-format run in 2020 for many horses hoping to secure their Tokyo qualifications before the end of the season, while the eight-and-nine-year-old class will give us the chance to see the progression of some of the stars of the future. With performances like those given by Monkeying Around and Banzai du Loir, we’re expecting this to be a very hot class indeed, despite the achingly long gap in everyone’s records. If Burgham has taught us anything this week, it’s that anything that can be accomplished and learned over the finest tracks in the world can also be done at home and out of the spotlight, if you’re creative and determined enough. Let that be a good motivator for us all — particularly if you’ve written off your own 2020 season and are planning ahead for next year instead.

We’ll be bringing you a jam-packed gallery from the jumping phases later on today, plus some extra treats from a busy few days at Burgham. In the meantime, stay safe, stay well, and Go Eventing!

The final top ten in CCI4*-S Section L.

The final top ten in CCI4*-S Section M.

Burgham: Entries & Times | Website | Live-Stream | Live Scores | EN’s Coverage | EN’s Twitter | EN’s Instagram

Ros Canter and Allstar B head to the top of the leaderboard, sending records tumbling like bowling pins in the process. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a bit of spectacle as the Burgham dressage record was dismantled in an excellent showing by Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around, leading most of us to believe that no matter how good the performances were today, we wouldn’t see much of a change at the top of the leaderboards in today’s competition.

How wrong we were. Today’s competitors saw yesterday’s smashed records and laughed in the face of logic, reason, and statistics, putting up marks that truly border on cruel and unusual punishment to the rest of the field. Even better? The best of the best marks ended up pitted against one another, giving us a full sea-change to admire, slack-jawed and slightly stunned, from alongside the windswept arena.

Okay, here’s the thing: you’re not meant to talk about the weather. If you do so, apparently, you’re a Very Bad Journalist™, or so say the powers that be, anyway. But when it comes to this – a very, very outdoor sort of sport – it’s kind of impossible not to take note of some of the extremes that get served up on any given day in any given field. And today certainly was a day of extremes. In comparison with yesterday’s mild, sunny, occasionally breezy conditions, today was rather like being trapped in a car wash, buffeted hither and thither by unrelenting, brutal gusts and occasionally pummelled into submission by seriously heavy rainfall. In short, it was the sort of day that doesn’t really lend itself to dressage, let alone dressage on a bunch of four-star fit event horses who haven’t encountered an atmosphere of any sort in the better part of a year.

Here is a photo of a puppy who didn’t want to sit down on the sodden ground, and so adopted a sort of resigned, restful squat instead to style it out. You’re welcome?

But if there’s one thing these top-level riders have been doing while the rest of us have been completing Netflix, it’s grafting. They’ve upped their flatwork game, hit the home gym, and honed their mental fortitude, and throughout the day, we watched rider after rider smile and embrace the little bit of extra joie de vivre, channeling it into incredibly watchable extravagance without sacrificing a bit of correctness. So while I wouldn’t have put a bet on records being broken again today, in hindsight, I’m actually not that surprised. If the world is easing back into competition, no one’s told these guys.

We’ve only had one chance to see World Champions Ros Canter and Allstar B in action in an international since they took their title at Tryon back in 2018. That chance came at Ballindenisk last September, where they romped around the CCI4*-L for the win just after Ros had given birth to her first child, daughter Ziggy. With a long-format run in the books, Allstar B — or Alby, as he’s known at home — was let down for the winter, ready to pick back up and tackle the 2020 season. But, of course, this being the Season That Wasn’t, we’ve ended up with what feels almost like a two-year hiatus from the reigning leaders of our sport. We’ll forgive this, though, because of what the pair delivered today: an almost perfect test that danced its way to a new Burgham record score of 19.7, the very best international score of Ros’s career, and the lead in CCI4*-S section M.

Ros Canter and Allstar B. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“We haven’t done a lot since WEG, so it’s quite a long time now,” says Ros, her arms full of a very smiley Ziggy, suited up against the stormy weather. “I was probably more nervous than him – I feel the pressure on Alby, but he was really good.”

Though an extension to her time off in 2019 wasn’t part of Ros’s plan, she’s managed to find the positives in the pandemic, rejigging her schedule to make the best of her lockdown.

“We’ve kept going, and had the horses on a day-on, day-off schedule, so we split them and had a more relaxing time,” she explains. “I’ve had more time to spend with my little girl, so it’s been good. We’ve kept training hard; I’ve felt it’s given me a bit more time to catch up on where I was before having a baby.”

There’s another two phases to tackle first, but longer term, Ros is thinking ahead to Pau — the last five-star standing on the 2020 calendar, and a target for many of the riders here this week.

“We have to play it a little bit by ear but I think it would be on the cards for me if it goes ahead. I’d like to be back at that level. I feel a bit lacking in match practice, so the more long-formats at a high level I can get to, the better, really.”

From worrier-mode to warrior-mode: Laura Collett’s London 52 has benefited from some time at home, as evidenced by his work today. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Before Ros could dismantle yesterday’s broken record, another rider headed into the ring in Section M and did just the same. Laura Collett and London 52 have always been exceptional in this phase, though the high-achieving eleven-year-old, who only started eventing four years ago, is finally beginning to reach his peak — as evidenced by his score of 20.3 today. In earning the score, he very nearly gave Laura her career personal best — but that honour remains the domain, for now anyway, of Rayef, who posted a 20.1 at Aachen in 2012. It’s not hard to imagine, though, that even better is yet to come — particularly as Laura has now fine-tuned a system that works for him as he’s grown into himself.

“He was borderline on edge of being a bit fresh [today], but he sort of needs to be like that,” she explains. “Last year, a few times it felt like I overdid it a bit outside and then he’d just slightly drop me in there, so we’ve tried something a little bit different. I worked him yesterday morning, and he felt really good in his brain so I just took him hacking in the afternoon, and then I hacked him this morning again. Then I kept the warm-up to a minimum so I could try to keep him feeling fresh. That’s when he does his best work — when he’s a little bit on edge, but good in his brain.”

Part of the process has been working with London 52’s brain to allow him the breathing room to grow — something that saw him enjoy six weeks of holiday time during the height of lockdown.

“He was up and fit [when it started], and he can be a bit of a funny horse if he doesn’t have enough to do,” explains Laura. On coming back into work, though, he had a newfound sense of self-assuredness: “he’s always been a bit of a worrier, but he actually feels confident now.”

Piggy March and Blenheim winner Brookfield Inocent sit fourth overnight. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Yesterday’s leaders Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around remain well in the hunt in overnight third place, while 2019 Blenheim CCI4*-L winners Piggy March and Brookfield Inocent — a horse once described to EN by Piggy’s husband Tom as “the 2020 Burghley winner” — posted a 21.8 to take overnight fourth position and earn the horse his career personal best mark.

Oliver Townend and Tregilder, who performed their test yesterday, sit fifth going into tomorrow morning’s showjumping. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Fifth place is the overnight domain of Section L leader Oliver Townend, who produced a very good test aboard his 2018 Blair Castle CCI4*-S winner Tregilder yesterday to earn a 22.9, while William Fox-Pitt and Little Fire slip into sixth place on 23.4.

William Fox-Pitt and Little Fire — sixth overnight heading into the jumping phases. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Chinese Olympians Alex Hua Tian and Don Geniro packaged up a bit of the quirky chestnut’s unique brand of spice to produce one of the most watchable tests of the afternoon. Don Geniro — or ‘the Don’ — is one of those horses you can’t help but tune into. Enormously charismatic and talented, he’s also quirky and occasionally unpredictable, and so his tests always come with the added excitement — rare, frankly, in dressage — of not quite knowing which way the wind will blow for him on any given day. But Alex, with whom he’s been partnered for so long and with such success, knows the horse and his (admittedly numerous) whims intrinsically, and watching him artfully turn fizziness into fluency, without a hint of kick-and-pull, is a masterclass for even the casual viewer.

Alex Hua Tian and a typically spicy Don Geniro sit seventh. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Today, it all paid off in the ring, with Don Geniro visibly gaining in confidence throughout the course of his test and skipping his way through what felt like the full spectrum of seasons in the course of five minutes. Their efforts would earn them a 24.4, enough for seventh place heading into tomorrow’s jumping phases — though, Alex admits, the mark could have been even better, but for a tiny mishap at the beginning of the test.

“I’m very happy with him, but I’m a bit annoyed, actually,” he says with a laugh, explaining, “I fumbled my right rein at the start and he cantered out of the halt. But I was really happy, because Don’s not good in bad conditions, he’s not good with flowers, he’s not good with atmosphere, and he hasn’t been out for ages — but it felt like he went in there and really tried. That’s all you can ask for, really.”

2020 should have been an enormously significant year for Alex, whose efforts — both in competition and in encouraging the growth of the sport in China — have been essential in qualifying a Chinese team for the Olympics for the first time. But although the postponement of the Games could have put a dampener on the spirits of the team, the extra time has allowed the adrenaline and momentum of qualifying on a deadline to be transformed into something solid — something with roots that can be used to grow into the cohesive and long-lasting national effort that Alex has been working towards throughout his career.

“I think it’s been a good thing for the riders who’ve stayed in Europe,” he says, reflecting on the past months. “Some of the riders have had to go back to China because of their provincial team responsibilities, which is a shame because they’ll have missed out on the opportunity to get to know their horses better.But the feeling is quite positive, and for the team management and the federation, it’s definitely a positive. Qualifying last year and then [the Olympics] happening this year, they were a bit like, ‘…shit!’ From the management side, our federation has had teams at Asian Games before, but it’s quite different at this level and at the Olympics. The stakes are higher and the organisation of it all is more difficult. I think, if anything, they needed an extra year to get everything organised — and having almost had sort of a dry run, they’ll be that much more prepared.”

Oliver Townend remains the man to beat in CCI4*-S section L, where he sits atop the leaderboard on a score of 21.4 with Ballaghmor Class. There’ll be little point in any of his competitors quietly hoping he might have accrued some rust over the past months, either — he made light work of the CCI3*-S sections today, duly winning both. He’s got plenty of previous good form here, and should be considered — as usual, really — a real threat.

Kitty King and Vendredi Biats recover from an early mistake to sit fourth overnight in section M. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The first change on the section L leaderboard came in the form of 2019 winners Kitty King and Vendredi Biats, who gave an important lesson in composure and riding away from your mistakes when an early break in the trotwork looked to put paid to any ideas of a low-scoring test. But Kitty rebalanced the historically cheeky ‘Froggy’, sallied forth, and rode the rest of the test as though the issue had never happened. It was worth the effort, too — her accurate, committed craftsmanship in the ring would be rewarded with a 25.8 and overnight fourth place, followed by Ros Canter and Rehy Royal Diamond in fifth place on 25.3.

Laura Collett and Mr Bass return to competition in fine style, stepping into provisional sixth place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

After this much time away, it’s hard not to find yourself delighting in just about every horse in the ring, and I certainly found myself turning to whoever was willing to listen to me throughout the day to expound on how excited I was to see various combinations again. But a few of those combinations really were a treat to watch — like Laura Collett and Mr Bass, the FOD-machine making his first appearance since Badminton last year, where he picked up an injury.

Though he’s not a dressage machine in the way that stablemate London 52 is, Mr Bass has proven himself a reliable partner in this phase, typically scoring in the high-20s and then, as his party piece, finishing on that score with a remarkable consistency. Today, though, he squeaked in below his expected score, putting a 25.8 on the board for sixth place overnight.

“He doesn’t find dressage easy, but he tried really hard — he was really on side,” says Laura, who has worked on the flat extensively with the horse after his rehabilitation, to great effect. “He’s definitely physically stronger, and having done dressage for a year he’s slightly accepting it a bit more. Half his problem before was that he’d try to guess what I wanted, rather than waiting to be told what to do, whereas in there it felt like he waited to be told what would come next — that was the biggest change in him.”

The extra time spent working on the flat acted rather like an extensive psychoanalysis for ‘Chuck’, who Laura describes as “a bit of a try-hard, and cocky, too.”

“It was all about figuring him out a bit more,” she says. “He’s a bit of a character and we had to work to figure out what to do with him, but I think we understand him a bit more now. I worked with Ian Woodhead and have been to Pippa Funnell for a few lessons with him, and they both just got into his head a bit more. He was never naughty; his whole thing in life is just that he thinks he knows best and doesn’t need to be told what to do, so any mistakes he’s ever made are because he’s trying too hard. Now he’s accepting that in dressage, he does sort of need to be told what to do!”

Almost more exciting for Laura than the score, though, is simply the feeling of being back behind those familiar ears at an international.

“It’s almost impossible to put into words — he means the world to me, and just to have him back here is really special,” she says.

Sarah Bullimore and Corouet step into eighth place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tomorrow sees both jumping phases run almost concurrently throughout the day, with showjumping set to start at 8.00 a.m. and cross-country to commence at 9.30 a.m. You’ll be able to watch the entirety of the cross-country action via the live-stream, and in the meantime, you can take a look at the course courtesy of the CrossCountryApp and press officer Catherine Austen.

But what do the riders themselves think of the challenge that’s been set?

“I think it’s big enough!” says Alex Hua Tian. “I think it’s a really difficult balance for the course designer, though it looks like they’ve hit the nail on the head — there’s definitely enough to jump, but it’s all quite attractive and out there in front of you to be jumped; there’s nothing trappy. But there are two or three combinations out there that will definitely cause issues for a few of the greener horses — the shoulder brush combination at 6ABC is one I’ll be riding pretty carefully at and just making sure the horses see it. Because it’s quite early on, you could see a few of the fresh ones taking a look — but other than that, you’d be cross with an experienced one for making a mistake later on.”

Ros Canter agrees: “I think it’s a great course. They always build big and bold here, so I look forward to giving it a go!”

We’ll be back tomorrow with a bumper report and gallery full of all the day’s action.

Go Eventing.

The top ten after dressage in a record-smashing CCI4*-S Section M.

The top ten at the culmination of dressage in CCI4*-S Section L.

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The chinchillas have their H&C subscriptions ready for the weekend — do you? (We’re telling fibs; the little buggers just pinch our passwords. Petty thievery abounds at EN HQ, and it’s time someone put a stop to it, frankly.)

We’ve made it, folks — the UK’s first international event of 2020 is finally upon us, and your resident British correspondent couldn’t be happier to have driven for six hours to get to it. Ever wanted to kiss the ground and have a little happy cry? Um, no, me neither, that would be totally weird, right?

There’s plenty of reason to be excited, either way – and you’ll be able to follow along with the entirety of the CCI4*-S cross-country on Saturday, 22 August, as well as CCI2*-S and BE100 cross-country on Sunday, 23 August, by signing up for a Horse&Country TV account (the very same account, incidentally, that you’ll be able to use to stream Great Meadows!). The stream will run from 9.30 a.m. to 18.30 p.m. local time each day — that’s 4.00 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. Eastern time. Here’s how the schedule breaks down in full:

SATURDAY, 22 AUGUST

9.30 a.m. (4.3o a.m. Eastern): CCI4*-S cross-country

16.15 p.m. (12.15 p.m. Eastern): 5-year-old cross-country

SUNDAY, 23 AUGUST

9.30 a.m. (4.3o a.m. Eastern): CCI2*-S cross-country

14.20 p.m. (9.20 a.m. Eastern): BE100 cross-country

To follow the action, you’ll need a subscription from H&C, starting at $9.99 or £5.99/month. All you’ll have to do is visit Horse & Country and hit Subscribe. Your membership gives you full access to all the live-streaming content the platform offers, plus an almost endless back catalogue of previously-broadcast events, documentaries, training series, yard tours, and rather addictive reality TV programmes.

Want to fill your boots with Burgham content ahead of the weekend? We’re on the ground bringing you everything you need to know from the CCI4*-S, and we also highly recommend you give The Eventing Podcast‘s preview episode a listen — it’s full of teasers about the eye-wateringly impressive entry list and what to expect from our first glimpse at some of the UK’s biggest stars in 2020.

Go Eventing — for real this time!

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…since we last had an international in the UK.

Okay, okay, so maybe it hasn’t been that long — but it has been a solid ten months, and reader, we have all felt every single one of them deep in our sad, shrivelled souls. But finally, miraculously, the exile from all things fun and exciting has come to a much-anticipated end, as everyone in the UK (and then some) has descended upon Burgham International Horse Trials for one of the biggest — and best — CCI4*-S entries we’ve ever seen.

So robust was the entry list — which nearly tickled the 200 mark — that the class was split into two sections to give a few more people the chance to win a frilly and some spending money. Both Section M and Section L — sponsored by A.W. Jenkinson Forest Products — commenced full (really, seriously full) days of dressage today, and chaps, if you were expecting a sedate return to the top of the sport here in the mecca of global eventing, you were, well, wrong.

Even after the withdrawal of Team Price and Tom McEwen, who had five five-star winners entered between them, the Burgham entry list reads like the guide card in a really, really good box of assorted chocolates. You know, one of the ones that doesn’t even have a dodgy chocolate liqueur hiding amongst the pralines and the caramels. It features the best of the best and then the best of the rest, too; treats among its ranks include Burghley winners Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class, dogged world-changer Alex Hua Tian and a string of entries led by Rio partner Don Geniro, World Champions Ros Canter and Allstar B, comeback king Mr Bass with Laura Collett, Bramham winners Kitty King and Vendredi Biats… the list really does go on, and on, and then on a little bit more.

Even splitting those entries in half simply to look at today’s results yields up an embarrassment of riches where big names are concerned. Prior to arriving, I had wondered idly to myself where some prolific upper-level combinations might find themselves on the other side of a long lockdown — would they have used the time to level up their training and come out marks ahead of where they’d been averaging prior to the pause? Or would ordinarily reliable first-phase performers drop away from the top spots due to ring rustiness? Would we see refreshed, exuberant pairs, or combinations who had soured themselves with interminable months of circles? Would my ability to scour an entry list and pick out my likeliest victims for the day be turned totally and utterly on its head?

Not really, as it turns out — because although everyone I chatted to today had approached the break in slightly different ways, every single one of these riders knows their own horses as well as they know themselves.

Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class head Section L after day one. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“[The lockdown training routine has] been a bit of mix-and-match,” says Oliver Townend, who leads section L with the exceptional Ballaghmor Class on a typical low score of 21.4. “It’s been a bit low-maintenance, and we’ve been on tick-over more than training – I think everyone’s gone a bit training mad!”

Low-maintenance though his system may have been, Oliver’s string produced a bevy of excellent results today, with 2018 Blair Castle CCI4*-S winner Tregilder sitting second in Section M on a score of 22.9 and the former Jonty Evans ride Dreamliner holding provisional sixth in Section L on 27.9 But though their work was inarguably impressive to the observer, Oliver doesn’t see these performances as an end goal.

“[The horses] aren’t finely tuned by any stretch of the imagination; we’re just quietly getting them back into it and preparing them for whatever may be of the end of the season. We’re letting the older ones know they’re not retired and producing the young ones a little bit for more experience.”

Piggy French and Brookfield Quality make an auspicious start to the horse’s first CCI4*-S. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sitting in second place in Section L on a score of 23.1 is the Queen of 2019 Piggy March and Brookfield Quality in the eleven-year-old’s first four-star. Produced through the 2018 season by Australia’s Kevin and Emma McNab, Brookfield Quality moved to Piggy’s formidable string at the beginning of last season — and in four international starts together, they notched up four wins. Today, they very nearly set a new personal best for the horse at any level, though they didn’t quite manage it – that honour still goes to Emma McNab, who produced a 22.4 with the gelding in a CCI3*-S at Camphire in 2017. Still, their 23.1 here represents a significant outlier to his mid-to-high-20s average, marking him out as yet another of the pigpen (yeah, we’re going with that) to keep a close eye on.

Sarah Bullimore and a ‘grown-up’ Reve du Rouet. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sarah Bullimore‘s stalwart five-star campaigner Reve du Rouet may be sixteen this year, but he’s certainly not planning to slow down anytime soon — and in fact, Sarah is quietly hoping that this might be the year that the quirky Oldenburg gelding finally grows up a little bit and embraces the first phase. An extraordinary performer on his day, the gelding — who came achingly close to a win at Pau in 2017 — suffers a genuine fear of crowds, which can push his easy 20s marks into the 30s without much provocation. But a slightly sparse Burgham, which isn’t allowing spectators this year, provided the perfect dance-floor for the exuberant Blou — who Sarah has described as almost autistic in way he interprets and reacts to the world — to stretch his legs post-lockdown, and the pair duly scored a 23.3 for overnight third.

Ros Canter and Pencos Crown Jewel reunite for provisional fourth place. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Provisional fourth went to World Champion Ros Canter in her first appearance back aboard Pencos Crown Jewel, who had been piloted during her maternity leave by fellow competitor Tom Jackson. They posted a 26.4, several marks below the British-bred mare’s spate of low-30s last season, while fifth-place Caroline Powell and Up Up and Away left their usual low-to-mid-30s marks behind to score 27.8. If you’re sensing a theme here, then you might be onto something.

Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around top the Burgham bill and break a record, all in one fell swoop. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Truly, though, the story of the day was that of Izzy Taylor and her 2017 Six-Year-Old World Champion Monkeying Around, who put a dizzying 21.2 on the board and set a new CCI4*-S dressage record at Burgham in the process.

This honour had previously been held by Gemma Tattersall and Chico Bella P, who scored a 22.4 here in 2015 — and the eagle-eyed among you may notice that Oliver Townend’s score with Ballaghmor Class also betters this former record. There would be no chance to bask in the glory, though — Ballaghmor Class’s test came later in the day, so he never held the record, even temporarily.

For those long-time fans of Izzy’s flashy young Hanoverian, it’ll come as little surprise to see him top the leaderboard in such fine form today. While 21.2 is a significant personal best at any international level, he’s consistently delivered the goods in this phase, scoring in the 20s on almost every appearance. This is helped along by his dressage-orientated breeding — he’s a grandson of the legendary Donnerhall and by Bertoli W, although his correct and patient training is entirely a credit to Izzy herself, who’s produced the horse all the way through. Now, though, the question mark looms large over the rest of his week here — with several wobbles on his record across the country in 2019, and a proclivity to knock rails, too, he’d certainly be a surprise winner if he were to stay on top throughout. But don’t rule him out just yet — in fact, his only clear international cross-country run last season was here, where he finished in sixth place. This year, too, Izzy considers him wiser as well as older.

“He’s a year older and a lot stronger, so he’s getting more rideable and I can be a bit braver on him,” she says. “There’s still loads more to come, but I’m very, very happy with him today.”

Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Careful training through lockdown has almost certainly contributed to his growth, but Izzy has been prudent about tempering the amount she asks of her horses — and she’s remained pragmatic, too, even without the benchmarks of competitive outings.

“Like anything, you can be the best at home in front of your mirrors, but when you have to come and do it here, it’s a different story. It’s been nice to be at home and train, but equally, that’s what we do from January to March — so having two [of those home-based periods] can be a bit tiring. It’s very important, for me, for the horses to be happy. If you drill them and drill them, they’re not going to want to do a test for you, or do anything for you. So it was a very thought-about balance between training and not letting them get bored. They’re competition horses, so they’re the same as us; I don’t want to be an at-home trainer, and they don’t want to be at-home horses. Every horse was different, so it was just about managing them how they needed to be.”

It’s great to see Tom Jackson back in the international ring in his first appearance since a crushing fall and subsequent broken leg at Hartpury this time last year. Though he could certainly be forgiven a little bit of ring-rustiness, he certainly didn’t appear to be in possession of any, posting a 25.2 with Bahira M and setting a personal best for the former Chris Burton ride across all levels.

Jesse Campbell and Diachello. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Wiltshire-based Kiwi Jesse Campbell holds onto provisional fourth place overnight with Diachello, scoring a 27.5 — and inexplicably sporting two rather dodgy-looking black eyes. The 10-year-old gelding has always been capable of good marks, though they’ve tended in the past to fluctuate between the high-20s and middling-30s — but some time at home gave Jesse the chance to install a few more buttons on the Holsteiner, who finished 27th here last year.

“During lockdown we sort of went back to the drawing board a bit; he’s a lovely horse, but we wanted to find a few more avenues to get better marks out of him.” he explains. “We wanted to find ways to get more activity from his hind end — you’ve got to be so good to beat the Germans now!” Though a couple of missed runs prior to Burgham put the pair on the back foot, Jesse looks at today’s test as a step in the right direction.

“His general work was great — there were little mistakes, but we’ll get there,” he says. If there’s a magic button that he’s found and installed, Jesse’s certainly not about to tell me what it is, in a manoeuvre reminiscent of another high-powered Antipodean — “I watched a Chris Burton interview all the way through, hoping to find out some of his secrets – and nothing! He just kept saying how lucky he was!” he laughs. We feel you there, buddy.

Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue round out the top five in Section M on a score of 28 — yet another impressive leap for a horse who tends to be a reliable mid-30s scorer. Meanwhile, the only marginal gains I made over lockdown were to my waistline. Great.

The top ten in Section M of the CCI4*-S after day one of dressage.

The top ten in CCI4*-S Section L at the end of the first day of dressage.

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World Champion Ros Canter is among the entries at this week’s Burgham International Horse Trials. Photo by Rupert Gibson Photography.

After several days of fierce debates on social media and a plethora of different interpretations of the tangle of inference that is the government’s guidelines on elite sport, Burgham International Horse Trials has decided to take a firm stand and as such, will not allow any competitors returning from France’s Haras du Pin, which ran through the weekend, to use their entries.

Burgham, which will be the UK’s first international event of 2020, runs this week (August 19-23), a month later than its originally intended slot on the calendar. Demand for international classes has proven astronomical, with the showpiece CCI4*-S class gaining nearly 200 entries and a CCI2*-L joining the line-up for the first time ever. In total, the event, which is held north of Newcastle, will run 12 classes across a number of sections, with national levels from BE100 through Intermediate, as well as a five-year-old qualifier, and CCI2*-S and CCI3*-S sections joining the CCI2*-L and CCI4*-S. Over 1125 combinations are entered.

While this is all great news for the event and the sport at large, it does put a unique pressure on Burgham’s organising team, who are all too aware that their safety measures will be closely scrutinised by a mainstream media that’s made rare appearances at an array of one-day events since the season began again.

Eventing, unlike many other sports, doesn’t currently require coronavirus testing for its elite athletes, even when travelling abroad to compete. An exemption scheme is in place in Britain, which allows for domestic athletes competing abroad in countries that are taken off the travel exemption list after the competition has started to avoid a two-week quarantine period if they undergo testing over the course of the first seven days they’re back in the country, though the guidelines aren’t wholly clear to many to whom the exemption could apply. Likewise, athletes from abroad may compete at British internationals, provided they do so in ‘bubbles,’ remaining self-contained at the event site and their temporary place of residence.

If it all sounds rather too confusing for words, you’re not alone in thinking so. Like much of the UK government guidance, it’s about as clear as mud and has proven endlessly contentious so far, prompting Burgham to announce their new stance today (August 18) after discussions with both British Eventing and the small number of riders who had entries at both Haras du Pin and Burgham. In order to ensure that Burgham doesn’t become a danger zone for viral spread – or the scapegoat for criticism of global equestrian sport – those riders will not be able to compete at the event this week.

Image courtesy of Burgham Horse Trials.

Event Director Martyn Johnson said: “This has been an extremely difficult situation and we apologise to those riders affected. Although the riders could apply for an exemption under the DCMS guidelines, we are all in agreement with the proposed way forward. We were all very uncomfortable with the idea of any potential risk, however small, to our amazing volunteers and helpers and the local community – and of course other riders, owners and officials.

“Burgham is the first international event of the British 2020 eventing season. We do not wish to jeopardise the rest of the equestrian competition season or to bring ill-feeling towards the equine community from other parts of society.”

British Eventing chief executive Jude Matthews said: “We thank all riders who applied for elite athlete exemption who have done everything necessary to ensure that they have kept themselves and others safe. While the exemption covers them to compete at Burgham,  all involved agreed that it would be prudent for those returning from Haras du Pin not to compete at Burgham this week. It has been a difficult period for all concerned, but safeguarding both our members and the future of the sport remains absolutely key.”

Among those riders affected are Tim and Jonelle Price, who enjoyed a fruitful week in France, topped off by a win in the CCI3*-L for 2019 Seven-Year-Old World Champion Happy Boy. But upon returning to the UK, they released a statement on their official Facebook page expressing their disappointment in some of the conversations regarding the competition on social media.

“It’s sad to see the same old half dozen or so names setting the social media world alight with negative views often based on hypothetical scenarios,” reads the statement. “Please respect that we are simply hard working professional athletes. We take our job very seriously and in this instance were simply adhering to the guidelines laid out by both the government and the sports governing bodies.

“We have both been tested for Covid upon returning from France as an extra level of precaution (not required within the guidelines), purely a stance taken by ourselves and Team NZ.

“Finally best wishes to Martyn and his team at Burgham for a great event and good luck to the competitors, we look forward to attending next time!”

Eventing Nation will be on the ground at Burgham to bring you wall-to-wall coverage of the extraordinarily hot CCI4*-S sections.

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