Congratulations again to William and his team, what an amazing achievement – winning both of Bramham’s extremely competitive three star classes, his sixth Bramham title and 49th 3 Day Event. Two weeks ago at Houghton William had a fall from Neuf Des Coeurs, but they were impeccable this weekend. Lying 2nd after the dressage they added nothing to their first day total to win by almost four points from Andrew Nicholson and Nereo. William discussed the difference the last fortnight had made, “Sometimes you need a wake up call, you almost need things to go wrong to make you think about things a bit more. I rode him quite cautiously around Houghton because the ground was hard and maybe our blood wasn’t up enough and we ended up making that mistake. Here at Bramham, that wasn’t the case, the ground was soft and I went a good crack and he felt like a totally different horse actually. It’s great that, particularly with Oslo being off this year, that Neuf Des Coeurs has really stepped up.”
Lenamore for London!
This weekend at Bramham belonged to William Fox-Pitt and his team, but there were plenty of other rounds to get excited about, and lots to keep the Selectors of many nations’ teams scratching their heads over the next day or two. New Zealand are going to be hard to beat, especially if they have this flying grey on their team – Lenamore skipped around the track for fun, and who doesn’t think he’d be perfectly suited for a venue like Greenwich?
Adding nothing to his dressage score of 45.3 (17th) they finished 4th overall.
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Zara Phillips’ third place with a double clear jumping and a personal best in the dressage cemented the form this partnership have been promising all along, and makes it strengthens her hand considerably. High Kingdom didn’t look to be traveling at all fast for the first half of the course, but then she let the handbrake off and with his huge stride High Kingdom came home with about ten seconds to spare. Zara talked about her round afterwards, “It was nice to have a run for once! I’m really pleased with him , he jumped well and was listening, and felt better than last year.” On whether she thought High Kingdom would be suited to the terrain at Greenwich, “It’s hilly here, it’s hilly at Burghley and he’s managed to cope with that. He’s quite nippy, but he covers the ground as well”. Zara added that she hadn’t felt particularly under any extra pressure this weekend, “until I saw all the selectors moving around in a group! It was probably good to have a bit of pressure on though and see if we could come up with the goods.”
Andrew Nicholson finished 2nd on Nereo, above, and 5th on Avebury, below
Andrew rates the New Zealand chances of Team Gold at London pretty highly, “I think if we can get there with our A team, our best pairs, we’ll have a very good chance of winning. We don’t have a lot to choose from but if we can get our best bunch we’ve got a live chance.”
Laura Collett had a great round on Rayef which had been her top priority of the weekend, bringing him home with just 1.2 time penalties to finish in 6th place.
Karin Donckers was the best of a good bunch of Belgian rides, finishing 7th on Exterbaria Van Het Verahof, above, and 20th on Lamicell Unique.
Fellow Belgian Marc Rigouts clocked up just a handful of time penalties cross country to finish 13th. Joris Vanspringel was clear and finished 18th, while Carl Bouckaert was 28th with Mensa and 31st with Cyrano Z, both jumping clear cross country.
Georgia resident Carl Bouckaert on Mensa. Carl has been staying and training in Belgium with both of his Bramham horses for the past six weeks and just came over to England for this event. His date of return to the US now hinges on the Belgian Selectors.
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Carl and Cyrano Z jump the 8th fence. As you can see Cyrano had a considerable amount of blood in his mouth, and it was much worse when he galloped past and could be seen in profile, the spectators around me all certainly noticed it and gasped in horror.
Cyrano Z certainly didn’t look in any distress and indeed continued around the latter two thirds of the course clear and well, but it was a horrible sight to see, especially if one was an uninformed spectator and didn’t know better. I was extremely surprised when he wasn’t pulled up, especially because I saw Becky Holder’s Can’t Fire Me two fences before they pulled her up at Rolex this spring, at the penultimate fence for a graze on his leg that I could barely see, and in fact didn’t notice until I went back and looked at my pictures.
Becky Holder had jumped a fabulous clear around a tough Rolex CCI**** track, the horse’s first at this level, when she was stopped at the penultimate fence and was not allowed to complete. If you look very closely you can see the blood on the right foreleg – this was two fences before they pulled her up. At the time I thought it very unfair, however the general consensus seemed to be that it was an unfortunate situation but that the safety and well-being of the horse was absolutely paramount, and that the sport of eventing must be seen to be doing the right thing. I don’t argue with that but if that is the case, and the rules had to be so strictly enforced that the grey horse above was not even allowed to jump the last fence, then how on earth did Cyrano Z manage to gallop around two thirds of the CIC*** course this morning with a sizeable amount of blood clearly visible around his mouth and spattering his chest and forelegs? This isn’t a new issue at all, and Lulu Kyriacou addressed it far more eloquently and thoroughly than I can in a piece she wrote for Horsetalk NZ following the debacle of Parcival’s elimination from the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games.
Lucy Wiegersma and Simon Porloe finished strong and in 8th place, some slight consolation for Woodfalls Inigo Jones’ stop earlier in the day.
Pippa Funnell gave Or Noir De La Loge a nice ride, but with her extremely economical lines and speed away from the fence, they only collected 6 time penalties and finished the day in 10th place, just a couple of points behind Peter Thomsen and Horsewares Barny; Peter also finished 14th on Horsewares Cayenne.
Local girl Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz stormed round the course delighting the crowds, and Opposition Buzz himself looked thrilled to be out on cross country again; he and Nicola are wonderful to watch, not just because of his freakish talent which is of course breathtaking, but also their partnership is so solid and long-standing that he almost seems to read Nicola’s mind, and when I saw him at the Hollow you’d swear he’d walked the course himself, taking charge and figuring it out! William Fox-Pitt, even though he looked to be going like the clappers on Lionheart, picked up six time penalties and explained that he didn’t see the need to chase the time on him when he wasn’t going to win.
How wonderful, and what a treat, to see Miners Frolic back to his old self, jumping and galloping for fun, and stopping the clock some 11 seconds inside the time allowed; they ended the day in 15th place.
I love Daisy Berkeley’s Mopani, clear with 4 time to finish 17th.
Two more solid cross country rounds in a consistent weekend of good results saw Lucy Jackson finish in 21st place with Animator II, above, a place above his stablemate Kilcoltrim Ambassador, the horse she brought to Rolex Kentucky CCI**** earlier this year, who jumped clear to finish 22nd.
Fellow kiwi Jonelle Richards and Flinstar were clear inside the time for 19th place, and Jock Paget gave Clifton Lush an easy ride round clear with some time to finish in 30th.
Wow! Jock Paget and Clifton Lush airborne!
Alexander Peternell and Nelgorde Naheez retired later on course
Alice Naber-Lozemann also retired Coral Estate Mitok after a couple of stops
Andrea Fuller and Right on Que had a great round, 39th
When in doubt…Andrew Heffernan and Millthyme Corolla, clear inside the time, 26th.
Andrew Hoy retired Cheeky Calimbo
Nicola Wilson retired Applejack after two stops at 14, the Carter Jonas combination (17 on the CCI course)
Jan Van Beek and Bridget, 47th
Constantin Van Rijckevorsel’s Butterfly Boy was impressive, 49th
Constantin’s other ride Goodwins Reef had a stop to finish 53rd
Christoffer Forsberg’s Lefuria looked absolutely spent coming up the last hill and could barely maintain a canter. They stepped all over the double of brushes and then laboured to the last which he walked up and down the other side, but managed to finish with just 2 time for 25th place – not a pretty picture though.
Elaine Pen and Vira, 29th
Ruth Edge and Elite Opposition, 42nd
Emma Hyslop and Waldo III, 38th
Jolyse Clancey and On Springs, 51st, one of the best of the few that I watched go through the water complex
Mandy Collins and Little Cruz, 43rd
Mystic Promise and Jane Emma Riley, retired
Raf Kooremans and Cavalor Chase the Moon, eliminated
Sarah Van Hasselt and Arctic Fox Too
Ellen Svennerstal and Southway picked up two stops and finished 59th
Virginie Caulier and Nepal du Sudre, 33rd
It’s no wonder that so many riders consider Bramham a special event (and especially William Fox Pitt!) – set in gorgeous countryside with one of the most friendly and efficient teams of organisers and volunteers that I’ve encountered, everything about it is first rate, and yet it still manages to feel somehow cosy. Massive thanks to Winnie Murphy and her crew in the press tent, I have never been so thoroughly spoiled at an event, nor eaten quite so much! An Eventing Nation Thank You as always to all the volunteers, without whom we’d have no event, and especially in this weather we had over the weekend, and a well done to all the grooms, riders, horses and connections; our thoughts are also with the connections of Lead the Way and Ragganath. Go Eventing!
