In the meantime, check out this course flyover — it somehow makes the jumps look even bigger than we already knew they were. The spread on some of these obstacles will make you weak in the knees, not to mention the giant yawning ditches — don’t look down!
Words people have used the descriptors “swashbuckling,” “massive” and “chunky” to describe the Eric Winter’s debut Badminton course, and we can’t wait to see how it rides. Check out the full course preview here, and of course keep it locked on EN for all the latest!
Karin Donckers and Fletcha van’t Verahof. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Karin Donckers and Fletcha van’t Verahof sailed straight into the lead this morning on a personal best of 37.3 at Badminton Horse Trials. It’s the first time Karin and the 12-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Vigo D’arsouilles X Southern Queen xx) have ever scored in the 30s at this level, and their performance was just a taste of what we have to look forward to in this afternoon’s dressage finale.
Ingrid Klimke and Horseware Hale Bob OLD, who EquiRatings is predicting will take the lead, are in the next group, and other names to watch include Jonty Evans and Cooley Rorkes Drift, Mark Todd and NZB Campino, Andrew Hoy and Rutherglen, Chris Burton and Graf Liberty, Andrew Nicholson and Nereo — and Lauren Kieffer and Veronica, of course!
Aside from Karin Donckers’ test, the other top spots on the leaderboard remain unchanged from yesterday thus far. Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Briot ENE HN now sit in second on 38.7, with Bettina Hoy and Designer 10 in third on 39.2. Defending winners Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW sit fourth on 40.0.
Kathryn Robinson and Let It Bee. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Looking to our North American combinations, Kathryn Robinson and her own Let It Bee, a 16-year-old Westphalian, blew their personal best out of the water to sit in eighth place on 44.4. That’s a three-point improvement over their test from Burghley last year, and Kathryn said the key to the improvement has been getting him more collected.
“I thought he got in there and got a little bit of stage fright, but he still performed,” Kathryn said. “There can be a lot of atmosphere in that arena, especially on a Friday when there’s loads of crowds. I’m mostly always on the first day, so I had to change my game plan of how to work him, not to work him too much but enough.”
As for her thoughts on the cross country course, Kathryn said she thought new designer Eric Winter has done a good job of balancing “rider frighteners” with questions that encourage the riders to think. (Click here for a fence-by-fence preview.)
“I’m quite lucky that I’m later on so I can see a few go and assess it. Sometimes what it walks like isn’t exactly what it rides like. I am looking forward to it. I want to get on now. I’ve been twiddling my thumbs!”
Watch Samantha Clark’s full video interview with Kathryn here:
Our other North American combination to go so far today, Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless, scored 53.2 to sit in 41st place. It’s been a very chilly, windy day here at Badminton, and Elisa said the conditions definitely affected “Johnny,” a 16-year-old Thoroughbred (Waterford Road X Faux Franc) owned by the Simply Priceless Syndicate.
“He listened and he tried,” Elisa said. “He struggles with tension on a daily basis; that struggle is real but … he still allowed me to ride him and didn’t shut down and completely lose it.”
Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Luckily for Elisa and Johnny, this is certainly not going to be a dressage show, and they can make up plenty of ground tomorrow. With three clear cross country rounds at four-star level already on their record, their strength in the second phase will definitely prove to be an advantage.
“I’m going to have to ride it like I stole it a little bit. You’re going to have to work out there,” Elisa said. “I told my friend it’s like you’re going to be going to war. You’ve got to go and fight for it. It’s not a breather anywhere really. You’re going to have to really take control of that course because if not it’s going to own you.”
Watch Elisa’s full video interview with Samantha Clark here:
Lauren Kieffer and Veronica go at 3:54 p.m. BST/10:54 a.m. EST and will look to match their personal best of 43.9 from Rolex last year. Looking to the rest of our pairs that went yesterday, Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot now sit tied for 12th on 44.9, with Lynn Symansky and Donner tied for 19th on 47.2, Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo in 34th on 50.6, and Katherine Coleman and Longwood in 42nd on 53.6.
Keep it locked on EN for all the latest Badminton news! You can watch live and view video replays at this link. Click here to catch up on all of EN’s #MMBHT17 coverage so far. Go Eventing.
Willberry Wonder Pony will be riding the Badminton cross country course with Sam on Saturday! Photo via Kitty King Eventing.
Willberry Wonder Pony will be riding the Badminton cross country course with Sam on Saturday! Photo via Kitty King Eventing.
Sorry, don’t try to make plans with me for tomorrow, I’ll be too busy glued to my live stream (if it works FINGERS CROSSED) of Badminton cross country. There’s nothing like a little adrenaline rush from watching four-star cross country rides, and two weekends in a row! Today we have the three final riders from the US, as well as some pretty highly rated riders from other countries as well.
Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless: 10:10 a.m. BST/5 a.m. EST
Kathryn Robinson and Let It Bee: 10:42 a.m. BST/5:42 a.m. EST
Lauren Kieffer and Veronica: 3:54 p.m. BST/10:54 a.m. EST
Top quality photos from Shannon Brinkman and quotes from the leaders and US riders? Don’t mind if I do! [COTH]
Andrew Hoy doesn’t think Fence 22, a bullfinch, belongs on the course at Badminton. What’s a bullfinch, you ask? Good question, as it’s a rather old style fence that we don’t really see anymore on courses anywhere. It’s a fence with a big tall soft brush, not trimmed, that the horses have to push through over the main jumpable obstacle. Some riders are rather concerned about it, and others not so much. [Does the Bullfinch Have a Place on Cross Country?]
Figuring out what bits are permitted for FEI and USEF/USEA competitions is a constant source of headache for all riders. With all the new and cool technology coming out these days with bits and bridles, it can seem a little daunting. It’s a good idea to brush up on your rulebook, and check out the illustrations before heading to your big show. Due to an uptick in inquiries, the USEA has provided clarifications here for your perusal. [Legal Bits for Dressage]
KER ClockIt™ Sport Session of the Week – Interval Training
In this week’s KER ClockIt Sport session, an eventer is using interval training to increase his horse’s level of fitness. He starts with a warm-up to lead into higher speed work. As you can see, the horse’s heart rate increases every time the rider increases speed.
KER researchers have performed numerous treadmill studies to measure work intensity as measured by oxygen consumption, heart rate, and lactate production. These studies have shown that increasing speed by 35m/min on a level treadmill increases a horse’s heart rate by 6 bpm. You can get the same effect by adding a 1% grade.
To see a detailed report like the one above, go to the KER ClockIt website and log in to your account. Once you are signed in, you can view your detailed sessions under the “Sessions” tab.
Michael Jung, Bettina Hoy and Thibaut Vallette in today’s press conference. Photo by Jenni Autry.
What did the top three have to say after the first day of dressage at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials? Read on!
Michael Jung on riding in back to back four-stars: “It’s a lot to organise but it’s not difficult. It’s a new motivation and it’s nice that you have many, many nice horses and that you can compete in these big competitions.”
Michael on the cross country course: “I think it’s a very tough course and you have to be very concentrate from the beginning to the finish, and that your horse have enough energy to the end. They are very big fences, very upright, nearly every fence at the end and a lot of questions come directly with not a fence in between where you can give the horse a new motivation if you have some problems, you have to be very concentrate always.”
Michael’s preparations this year compared to years past: “It was nearly the same, we just missed one competition in Fontainebleu which was cancelled, so we had just one competition. But he has a lot of experience and he feels very good. He gives me a very good feeling the last couple of weeks and months so it changed not so much.”
Who rode La Biosthetique Sam while Michael was winning in Kentucky? “The same people like always when I’m in a competition. For example like, Isabel, or Pietro … different peoples who are working in my stables for riding the horses.”
Bettina Hoy’s thoughts on cross country: “I think Eric has built a very clever course, like as Michael said, I think you need to be extremely concentrated as a rider and I think you need to have an extremely good jumper underneath you because there’s basically just one big question after another and not many fences where they can get their breath back. Especially the last part, from the Dew Pond onwards it literally goes uphill so when you come to the two gates at the end you still want to have something left in the tanks so they can pick up and produce a nice jump.
“It’s tough with all this intensity in the middle and uphill at the end, I think the time will be tough. Eric has been very clever in building a lot of fences that you have to turn in to so that you have to actually slow down to get to the fence, which will make the time quite difficult to get. I’m quite sure Michi will be well up there and show us all how it’s done!”
Thibaut Vallette answered his questions via a translator.
On his first Badminton: “It’s my first Badminton and my first four star with this horse. I’m obviously very pleased to be here, it’s a dream come true for any eventer. I’m very happy with my dressage todaybut of course this is only the beginning and there’s a lot left to do in the next few days.”
What Thibaut considers the highlights of his test today: “My horse has a very nice trot and it’s important for me to set off to a good start to make that apparent and score good marks for that. I was pleased with that. My horse is still a little difficult to collect and I wasn’t so pleased with the first flying change, but then everything went back into place and I was very happy with the finish.”
Thibaut on the cross country: “It’s his first four-star so my horse will have to go an extra minute longer than he’s used to so that will be an element, but not one that I’m particularly worried about. The horse is a very good all-rounder with great jumping capacities and he’s an enthusiastic cross country horse. There’s a lot to look out for and it will necessitate great concentration and it will mean listening out for all the signals from me to get it right. There are a few profiles that I’m not used to, that I don’t encounter so frequently in France so that will be a new experience for me.”
Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Briot ENE HN. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Briot EN HN top the standings after the first day of dressage at Badminton, giving us one of two scores so far in the 30s to lead on 38.7. These two have only competed in one four-star together in their 13 international starts as a combination, but they already have a slew of accolades to their name, including team gold at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and individual and team bronze at the 2015 Blair Europeans.
Qing du Briot ENE HN, a 13-year-old Selle Francais (Eolien II x Henriette) scored 41.0 in his first career four-star test in Rio, and he bested that mark by more than 3 points today. Bettina Hoy and Designer 10, a 13-year-old Westphalian (Dali X x Caesy), scored 39.2 for second place, which didn’t match their score of 34.5 from last year when they finished sixth, but it will still be good enough to send them out of the starting box in a good position come Saturday.
Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW, who are looking to become the fifth back-to-back winners at Badminton in the history of the event, scored 40.0 for third place at the end of the first day. Sam, a 17-year-old Baden-Württemberger (Stan the Man XX x Halla) had been averaging a 37.1 in dressage over the past 12 months, according to EquiRatings.
While Michael and Sam’s score today didn’t come close to matching their personal best of 33.0 from the 2010 World Equestrian Games, remember that they battled back from fifth place after dressage at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games to ultimate win back-to-back gold. With Eric Winter’s course living up to expectations as a return to “big and bold,” we are expecting a very influential cross country day with the potential to turn the leaderboard upside down, much like we saw in Rio.
Stay tuned for quotes from Thibaut, Bettina and Michael just as soon as we wrap up the afternoon press conference.
We have two Americans sitting inside the top 15 after dressage. Hannah Sue Burnett and Jacqueline Mars’ Harbour Pilot, a 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Cruising x Shannon) are leading the way for Team USA after the first day, scoring 44.9 to sit in equal eighth in their Badminton debut. Read much more about their test and watch a video interview with Hannah in our morning report.
Lynn Symansky and Donner. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Lynn Symansky and the Donner Syndicate’s Donner scored a personal best of 47.2 in their Badminton debut to sit tied for 14th place. The 14-year-old Thoroughbred (Gorky Park X Smart Jane) left some points on the table when he was late behind with the first two changes in the test, but this is easily the most relaxed I’ve ever seen him in a big atmosphere.
“I usually have to climb my way back from his trot work, but his trot work today was great, and I struggled a little in the canter to keep him fully connected. I think he’s a bit body tired because I’ve had to ride him a lot this week. He’s been quite up,” Lynn said.
“He’s a full Thoroughbred ex-racehorse so sometimes you have to compromise the body a little bit to get the mind working with you, and I think I just lost him a little bit in the changes, but he still tried so hard. I was really happy with him.”
Lynn walked the course yesterday and said she feels confident considering Donner has already jumped around five four-stars without a cross country jumping penalty. “If any course is going to suit him it would be this one where it’s not such a dressage show for sure,” Lynn said. “I’m a little light on runs this year but he’s so experienced that he just needs to get out and school a lot, which I’ve done. He feels prepared.”
Watch Samantha Clark’s full video interview with Lynn below:
Lauren Kieffer also made her Badminton debut today, scoring 50.6 with Jacqueline Mars’ Landmark’s Monte Carlo, an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Formula One x Glamour) to sit in 24th place after dressage. You can read much more about Lauren’s test and watch a video interview in our morning report.
Katherine Coleman and Longwood also made their Badminton debut today, scoring 53.6 to sit in 28th place after dressage. While Katherine and her own Longwood, a 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse (Limmerick X Cavale de Or), have never competed at four-star level together, that is their best score to date and a definite improvement from their 12-month dressage average of 55.3.
“I’m really pleased with him, as dressage is not his strongest phase. Yesterday in the trot-up he was wild and so I was really nervous about how he was going to be in there today in terms of all the atmosphere, and I’m really pleased. He pretty much kept his calm and was paying attention to me the whole time. I think that’s where we’re at for the test at the moment, and he went out there and did the best he can do.”
Katherine Coleman and Longwood. Photo by Jenni Autry.
As for what it means to Katherine to compete at Badminton, she was in tears when she said how much it means to her to have so many people here supporting her. “We as riders are here together but it’s all about the people that get us here, because they’re here at 6 o’clock in the morning, 7 o’clock at night on a Sunday; they’re there. It’s the vets, the farriers, the physios … everyone just comes together to get you here. It’s amazing.” We couldn’t agree more!
Watch Samantha Clark’s full video interview with Katherine below:
Looking ahead to tomorrow, there are several other contenders with the potential to best Thibaut and Qing du Briot’s score in dressage. Ingrid Klimke and Horseware Hale Bob, who finished second at Badminton in 2015, are chasing their four-star personal best of 39.3. According to EquiRatings, over the last 12 months, Horseware Hale Bob has averaged 34.4 in dressage.
Others to watch are Andrew Nicholson and Nereo, Karin Donckers and Fletcha van’t Verahof, Chris Burton and Graf Liberty, Mark Todd and NZB Campino, and Jonty Evans and Cooley Rorkes Drift. Of these combinations, Andrew and Nereo are the only other pair aside from Ingrid and Horseware Hale Bob averaging in the 30s over the past 12 months (36.4).
If you’re noticing a lot of numbers in EN’s reports from Badminton it’s because we are teaming up with EquiRatings to bring you exclusive data and content. For MUCH more, be sure to follow them on Twitter @EquiRatings and also check out the daily video updates on Facebook.
We have one more bonus video interview for you, as Samantha Clark caught up with Team USA Chef d’Equipe David O’Connor to discuss Eric Winter’s cross country course, as well Lauren Kieffer and Hannah Sue Burnett’s tests:
We have three more North American combinations still to come on Friday:
Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless: 10:10 a.m. BST/5 a.m. EST
Kathryn Robinson and Let It Bee: 10:42 a.m. BST/5:42 a.m. EST
Lauren Kieffer and Veronica: 3:54 p.m. BST/10:54 a.m. EST
Badminton is streaming all the action live, as well as posting videos for on-demand viewing. We’re posting the live stream and the on-demand videos at this link, so be sure to tune in tomorrow. Many thanks for following along with EN! Go Eventing.
Megan Kiessling blogs about the trials and tribulations of retraining her first OTTB at Let’s Get Ready to Runkle, following the journey from hurdle horse to eventer through hilariously irreverent prose. This blog post was originally published on Let’s Get Ready to Runkle on May 4, 2016, and recently republished by our sister site Horse Nation.
So in my head I’ve had a fuzzy list of things I want to do in life. A bucket list. But it’s all horsey themed, so instead of just a bucket list, it’s a Muck Bucket list. Of all the stuff I want to do with horses before I kick it. See what I did there? It’s a play-on-words pun.
Go to Badminton, Burghley, Rolex, Pau, Luhmuhlen and Adelaide
If you read my 2015 year in review post you saw I had the opportunity to work abroad for the first part of the year. The very first thing I did when I found out I got the job was buy tickets to Badminton. It’s my goal to go to every four star in the world, and being in England already seriously cut down the cost of the trip.
I spent money on really good stadium tickets in the grand stand and booked a hotel room over Saturday night in a local (ish) B&B. I had a Zipcar account for years and there are tons of Zipcars in London (that are automatics, even) so I got one of those. It didn’t bother me that I had to go alone. My plan was to drive out early Saturday morning in time for the start of cross country, get in to the B&B that night, and then early start to see the final jog, show jumping, and be back in London by dinner.
This sounds really good on paper. I know it does.
I got in the car at quarter to seven on Saturday morning. On the wrong side. Driving on the wrong side. I drove for about 20 minutes before I realized I had left my tickets pinned to my fridge. Good start…
The entire drive I just kept saying to myself “This is SO weird”. The street just looks REALLY different on the other side of the road. And it wasn’t physically driving on the other side so much as sitting in the passenger seat and driving. I kept drifting to the left because I felt like everyone was coming quite close on the right. Once I hit the highway it got much easier. Also people in England drive so bloody fast. I was doing 75mph or so, minimum, and people were absolutely blowing past me in the right lane.
Once I got off the highway and I was within range of Badminton Radio I listened to that. The show sold earpieces for 9GBP that tuned into the radio all weekend which was awesome. Every time I saw a sign for the horse trials I got more and more excited. Even sitting in traffic was stupidly exciting. I parked next to a landing strip for private aircraft that was about a forty mile walk away from the grounds but I bounced the whole way there.
Once inside I stopped by the grandstand to watch the cutest thing ever: Shetland pony races.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
After watching several heats I started the trek out to cross country. I decided to start near the end of the course and walk closer to start. I had several places circled on the map I wanted to see; the main water, the mirage pond, huntsmans close, and the coffin complex. It was a gorgeous day, totally atypical for England. Bright sun, cloudless blue sky, warm but not too hot and lots of wind. Everyone was wearing tweed, Dubarry’s and Hunter rain boots.
Two years ago the course was quite notoriously difficult. A new course designer really upped the ante, and there was a much lower completion rate in 2014. In the face of that, the 2015 course was quite a bit softer. The other slight disappointment was there wasn’t a single US rider in attendance. Ironically they were all at Jersey Fresh, which is about forty minutes from where I live in the US. Initially I was upset about this but at the end of the day I loved it. It almost felt like I had no pressure; and it wasn’t like there weren’t dozens of the best riders in the world competing. I could guiltlessly root for whoever I wanted regardless of the flag on their saddle pad. It was kind of awesome!
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
I’ve watched many events, plenty of them 3*’s, but this was beyond anything I had seen. All the jumps were so big. The letup fences were positively enormous. The accuracy required by the skinny jumps seemed impossible. From the first fence to the last it demanded the very best of each combination and getting to watch people compete at that level blew my mind. I ended up spending quite a bit of time at the Mirage Pond and also the faux coffin complex. Big brush jumps begging a glance off and jumps that were so awkwardly placed that my usual “leg on and sit back and it’ll all be okay” would not fly at all.
Andrew Nicholson and Nereo. Photo by Megan Kiessling.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
My favorites to watch were Pippa Funnel, Ingrid Klimke and of course William Fox Pitt. I saw WFP at the Huntsman’s Close on Chilli Morning and I took a couple pictures but mostly I just watched. That horse is incredibly athletic and looks very challenging to ride. He’s quite wiggly looking! And if he’s like that with one of the best riders in the world on him then he’d probably be 70% sideways if a mortal rode him.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
I loved being at the coffin complex the most on course (especially because I became buddies with the photographer there) but when I wandered over to the cool down area after the course it unexpectedly became my favorite part. Horses I had seen larger than life out over the jumps suddenly looked smaller. It was actually hard not to hop the fence and start helping when a new horse came in. Unless the rider was extremely famous, necessitating an interview, they helped in the cooling out process. I loved seeing the back door displays of horsemanship and teamwork.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
Photo by Megan Kiessling.
Finally cross country was over. I wandered through the massive trade village with a cider in one hand and a meat pie in the other. At the end of the day I headed out to the parking field and stood there as I realized I had absolutely no idea where I was parked. Every field looked the same and they stretched as far as I could see. The saving grace was after about twenty minutes of wandering I remembered I was near the private air strip!
The B&B I stayed at was so cute. The room was comfortable and had a view of fields full of horses. The proprietor greeted me by name and took me up to my room where I took the best shower ever, uploaded about a billion pictures and slept the dead sleep of someone who wandered in a giant field all day watching gorgeous horses gallop and jump.
Megan is a numbers nerd who dabbles in writing and running. She is also a Professional Unprofessional rider retraining her first off the track Thoroughbred, Runkle.
Each Thursday we dig through the cobwebbed EN archives for a favorite throwback post from yesterday. This week’s edition hails from May 10, 2014, featuring the legendary Mary King.
Stickability was an absolute necessity around Badminton’s incredibly tough cross country course today. All in a day’s work for Mary King. Incredible balance from Imperial Cavalier as well. Ho hum.
Happy Kentucky Derby week! Who will you be cheering for?
Me, I’m a hopeless sucker for the dark horses (the tall, dark and handsome OTTB #1 on this week’s “Wishlist” included, although that’s not EXACTLY what I was talking about). Our sister website Horse Nation spotlighted three of the best underdog narratives that will be unfolding in this Saturday’s race — read them here!
Here are our OTTB picks of the week:
Photo via CANTER Maryland.
Special Rush (Rush Bay – Special County, by Wayne County (IRE)): 2010 17-hand Maryland bred gelding
“Special” is the perfect name for this horse, and his pictures don’t really do him justice. He’s a big-boned gelding who has recently recovered from a shin issue — his short time on stall rest is complete and he has been on turnout in the round pen for three months. We spoke to his vet who assures us that this guy should have no limitations on his future.
Looking for an athletic jumper? This guy was just hanging out in his round pen when he decided to make a break for it and he jumped a 5-foot fence from a near standstill, and reportedly cleared it with air. Don’t worry though – we’re assured that he isn’t usually an escape artist, he just felt like showing off that day (and apparently has some serious talent to show off!)
He is a lovable barn favorite with absolutely no vices. His connections say that the exercise riders love him, he’s a joy to gallop and has always just gone in a simple, easy eggbutt bit. He loves sweet potatoes as snacks and wants to find a home where he’ll be spoiled. Located at Laurel Park.
Blue Dasher (Distorted Reality – Pagan Baby, by Atticus): 2014 16-hand California-bred mare
Unplaced in three starts and recently restarted off the track, “Annie” is looking for her new person and new career. Extremely fancy mover with the looks the match. Currently in retraining doing walk/trot/canter and going over poles and small fences. Has been free jumped.
Annie shows the natural ability to be a sporthorse with some upper level potential. Very smooth gaits, knows where her feet are and has a very soft mouth. Recently vetted clean with no history of soundness issues. Needs a confident experienced rider and/or a professional to take her in the right direction.
Mimi’s Sugar (Pure Prize – Sugaree, by Broad Brush): 2009 15.3-hand Florida bred mare
This well bred girl has been a steadily productive race horse, with five wins and 18 in the money finishes in 32 starts. But lately she isn’t running as well as she used to, so it is time to find her a new career. She has been owned by the trainer’s family for a long time, and they care a great deal about finding Mimi a great new home.
Mimi’s trainer says she is an intelligent and alert mare, who acts “very aware” her first time in a new place, but then settles right down and goes to work. For her jog video, although Mimi was exuberant, she showed an athletic, big-strided, very flashy ground-covering trot, with impressive push from behind and flat kneed reach from her shoulders. Her movement suggests eventing might be right up her alley. Her trainer thinks that with some down time with turn out and the opportunity to just be a horse, Mimi will settle right down and be great for any new career.
Mimi races without hind shoes, because she does not like her hind feet picked up. Her pedigree offers excellent broodmare potential. She is by Pure Prize, a son of Storm Cat and the champion mare Heavenly Prize. Her dam is by Broad Brush. She comes from the immediate female family of Eclipse champion filly She Be Wild.
Mimi’s dam has daughters who are stakes producers and winning producers; her second dam is a multiple stakes producer whose daughters are graded stakes producers — including the dam of She Be Wild. Her third dam is a stakes winner and stakes producer. There is lots of quality black type in this female family, with a Canadian champion in addition to the U.S. Eclipse Award winning champion.
Astier Nicolas and Piaf de b’Neville. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Astier Nicolas and Piaf de b’Neville faced a nail-biting start to the 2017 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials yesterday when the horse was sent to the holding box at the first horse inspection, but the Rio Olympic individual silver medalists brushed off the mishap to score 41.5 and lead at the Thursday lunch break.
That score of 41.5 missed Astier and Piaf de b’Neville’s personal best at the level of 38.5 from Pau in 2015, and they likely would have come very close to challenging that mark had it not been for a costly mistake at the very end of the test when the horse broke to canter on the opposite leg following the downward transition to trot.
Like we saw last week at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, horses and riders at Badminton are performing FEI CCI4* Dressage Test A. This is the first time most of these combinations have performed this particular test, aside from the four riders that also competed at Rolex last week: Lauren Kieffer, Hannah Sue Burnett, Michael Jung and Tim Price.
Mark Todd and Leonidas II. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Mark Todd and Leonidas II came so close to beating their personal best of 41.7 from Burghley in 2015, but halting at G instead of I for the final salute ultimately gave them an error and bumped their score up to 42.9 for second place currently. Alexander Bragg and Zagreb scored 44.6 to round out the top three.
Two of our seven North American combinations went in the morning session, with Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot sitting in fourth place on 44.9. They were chasing their personal best of 43.2 at Rolex last year, and they had a very similar mistake to Astier Nicolas and Piaf de b’Neville at the end of the test, when the horse broke to canter on the opposite leg after the downward transition to trot.
Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Hannah said “William,” a 14-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned and bred by Jacqueline Mars, was a bit tense in warm-up but then relaxed well in the ring. “There was a couple of little mistakes I wish I could have improved on, but I can’t be too hard on him for his first time here. He scored 44.9, which is a little bit higher than he’s been getting but it’s alright … I heard the cross country is really hard, and I’m on a cross country horse.”
Indeed, Eric Winter’s new cross country course is certainly causing quite a stir. It’s BIG with with a mix of technical questions and massive jumping efforts. Click here to take a virtual tour of the course.
Hannah hasn’t walked the course yet, as she has certain superstitions she always follows, like never walking her course on a Wednesday. Now that she’s done her test, she will go out and walk in the very near future. (She also eats one banana before cross country after suffering from muscle cramps at Rolex one year. In 2016 she ate two bananas before her cross country round at Rolex and broke a frangible pin, so now she sticks firmly to just one banana.)
She said William is definitely enjoying being at Badminton, one of the largest attended sporting events in Great Britain. “If there’s a crowd of people and somebody he knows will yell his name, he’ll look right at them,” Hannah said. “He loves atmosphere and he loves being at a party; he’s a social kind of a guy.” Welcome to the party, William!
The fabulous Samantha Clark caught up with Hannah in the mixed zone after her test, so be sure to listen to watch her full interview here:
Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo did the honors as our first down the center line in their Badminton debut. There was a scoring mix-up when her score was first announced as 50.6, then changed to 57.3, then changed back to 50.6 more than three hours later to put them in 13th place.
“Patrick,” an 11-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Jacqueline Mars, had a bobble when he cantered in the half-pass, combined with the very tough task of being first out, kept them from matching that score, but Lauren said she was thrilled with the horse.
Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo. Photo by Jenni Autry.
“He was steady and he was accurate and I couldn’t be happier with him,” Lauren said. “So far my experience at Badminton is amazing — although it’s a little cold, especially coming from Kentucky. It’s fantastic, and there’s certainly quite the atmosphere.”
Lauren has walked part of the course so far and said it’s big, bold and just what you would expect at Badminton. As to how she feels about being the pathfinder on course with Patrick as the first out of the startbox: “There’s not much I can do except kick on and ride what I know!”
Watch Lauren’s full interview with Samantha Clark below:
We’ll see Lauren return to the dressage ring tomorrow aboard Team Rebecca’s Veronica, who is set to go at 3:54 p.m. BST/10:54 a.m. EST. I would say you can watch via the live stream, but we have received numerous reports that the feed has been sporadic. It is working currently here, but no guarantees!
Looking ahead to today’s afternoon session of dressage, we have three heavy hitters all going in the next group, and according to EquiRatings they are expecting all of them to hit the 30s: Bettina Hoy and Designer 10, Thibaut Vallette and Qing du Biote ENE HN, and reigning winners Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW. (For your sake I really hope the live stream works so you can watch!)
When it comes to scores in the 30s, that threshold is all-important when you consider that four of the past five winners of Badminton all scored in the 30s, with the exception being Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh in 2014 due to very wet conditions. As for the best score ever recorded at Badminton, Andrew Hoy and Darien Powers scored 30.8 in 2000.
Katherine Coleman and Longwood go at the very end of the third session at 3:02 p.m. BST/10 a.m. EST. Lynn Symansky and Donner are our last North American combination to go toward the very end of the day at 4:34 p.m. BST/11:34 a.m. EST.
Click here to catch up on all of EN’s coverage of #MMBHT17 so far keep checking Instagram for more photos. Samantha and I are your boots on the ground at Badminton, and we’re also teaming up with EquiRatings to bring you exclusive stats. Be sure to check out @equiratings to follow along with their live analysis.
Elisa Wallace photobombs the one and only La Biosthetique Sam FBW! #gojohnnygo
Hello from the first day of dressage at Badminton Horse Trials! A lot of you had trouble watching the live stream yesterday on the Badminton website. Four of our seven North American combinations are slated to do their tests today. You can also watch on EN at this link, so try that today if you have trouble again.
Thursday ride times for our North American pairs:
Lauren Kieffer and Landmark’s Monte Carlo: 9:30 a.m. BST/4:30 a.m. EST
Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot: 10:42 a.m. BST/5:42 a.m. BST
Katherine Coleman and Longwood: 3:02 p.m. BST/10 a.m. EST
Lynn Symansky and Donner: 4:34 p.m. BST/11:34 a.m. EST
Here’s a look ahead to Friday ride times:
Elisa Wallace and Simply Priceless: 10:10 a.m. BST/5 a.m. EST
Kathryn Robinson and Let It Bee: 10:42 a.m. BST/5:42 a.m. EST
Lauren Kieffer and Veronica: 3:54 p.m. BST/10:54 a.m. EST
Have you listened to the Badminton preview episode of the Eventing Podcast? The team discusses the big names to watch, and there’s a rundown on the American combinations and who they think might win the event. [Badminton Preview Episode]
Can’t get enough photos from yesterday’s first horse inspection? Good friend of EN Nico Morgan posted a beautiful gallery on his website. [Nico’s Photo Gallery]
What did the riders wear for the Badminton first horse inspection?Horse & Hound has a photo gallery showing a wide range of the outfits. [H&H Fashion Photo Gallery]
Badminton begins with the Mitsubishi Motors Cup for amateur riders at the BE90 and BE100 levels. Katie Hancock won the BE100 title for the second year in a row on her Shire/Thoroughbred cross Coddstown Pet, while local rider Laura Avery won the BE90 title on her New Forest stallion Willoway Free Spirit. [Get to Know the Mitsubishi Motors Cup Winners]
It’s an exciting week for equestrian sport as racing fans gear up for the 143rd running of the Kentucky Derby. Heavy favorite Girvin has been battling a quarter crack, and Dr. Raul Pas did a beautiful job of patching his hoof. [Fran Jurga’s Hoof Blog]
If you’re at Badminton, be sure to stop by the Uptown booth (#211) to meet Majyk Equipe sponsored riders Lauren Kieffer and Hannah Sue Burnett. Lauren is signing at 3 p.m. today and Hannah is signing at 3 p.m. tomorrow. [@UptownEStore]
Thursday Video:
Elisa Wallace is blogging for Badminton as a first-time competitor at the historic venue. Watch her latest video blog below. #gojohnnygo
