Classic Eventing Nation

Oliver Townend meets the influential lake crossing for the first time aboard Cooley Rosalent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It’s been a Blenheim for the books this week, and after yesterday’s surprise-filled CCI4*-L cross-country, the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds certainly didn’t disappoint in the drama stakes, either. Of the 90 competitors who came forward for today’s cross-country, 73 went on to finish, and 60 did so without jumping penalties — an 81% completion rate and a 67% clear rate. On paper, that’s generous — and should be, arguably, for these inexperienced, developing horses — but there was still change aplenty across the leaderboard, with the time proving achingly difficult to catch and a number of very good horses and riders picking up penalties along the way, particularly at the main water complex at 10abc, which saw 18 competitors run into trouble, and the first lake crossing at 8ab, which added penalties to the score cards of 10 competitors.

But before all that drama really kicked off, there was a bright light: six horses in, and with just two clear rounds logged in that time, Piggy March left the startbox with the eight-year-old Brookfield Future News, whose only previous Advanced run, in the eight- and nine-year-old class at Aston-le-Walls, had seen him top the leaderboard. But even with that under his belt, he’s arguably one of the least experienced in his field. Nevertheless, he crossed the course as though it had been built just for him, not just delivering a clear, but doing so five seconds inside the time.

Would that mean that other, more seasoned horses would join them en masse in the zero faults club? Not at all — until the latter stages of the day, when one horse would join them, becoming the only competitor in the class to finish on their dressage score.

That was, of course, overnight leader Cooley Rosalent, ridden by Oliver Townend.

“She’s incredible,” says Oliver. “We’ve always thought she was exceptional — we’ve had her since she was four years old, and she’s been special since the word go. I’ve been lucky enough to produce her, but in all honesty, most people could have produced her, because she’s very straightforward, exceptionally talented, and finds everything very easy. She wants to do it, probably even more than I do sometimes! She’s very keen and enthusiastic, and it’s very nice to go around a course with [a horse with its] ears pricked and a lot of blood that’s taking you places.”

Unlike Brookfield Future News, with his eight International cross-country runs, Cooley Rosalent has fifteen to her name — and that mileage showed in how capably she ran to the minute markers, finishing easily right on the 6:54 optimum time.

“She found it, as always, very comfortable,” says Oliver. “But the course, in general, was extremely tough for an eight- and nine-year-old class, which I think it should be — it’s our eight and nine year old championship, and it was a fair course, but at the same time, you definitely don’t want to be coming here on anything that’s even half green, because even for the ones that have enough mileage, it’s definitely a big step up for them.”

One of the holes in ‘Rosie’s’ belt? A five-star debut — a very rare accolade for a horse to bring to this class. She stepped up at Luhmühlen this year, finishing 27th after gaining an education, rather than truly putting up a fight, in each of the three phases — and that experience, Oliver says, has been huge for her.

“She went to Luhmühlen, and it would have been very easy to take her to Bramham and win, but my idea was that at the places we’re aiming her, she needs to come across as many people and atmosphere as much as possible,” he says. “We wanted to know how she coped with it, and what we needed to do from a management point of view and an educational point of view for the future. She wasn’t going to Luhmühlen to win; she was going to see people, and umbrellas, and arenas. But that mileage has been absolutely second to none, and then when you bring her to a place like Blenheim, she felt like a much older horse going around there.”

Piggy March and Brookfield Future News. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Second-placed Piggy March was the picture of pure joy after crossing the finish line with that early, influential round with Brookfield Future News behind her — and rightly so. As one of the youngest and most inexperienced horses in the field, he was also the fastest by a margin of six seconds, and proved that his rider’s long-held belief in him was always well-founded.

“He was bloody brilliant — just amazing!” says Piggy. “And I’m just so excited because he’s everything that I’ve thought he’d be from the age of six. He’s a bigger blood horse, so he’s not always been the fanciest — he’s come second quite a lot, but I’ve always believed in him, and he’s been one of my favourites. Quite a few people, because he’s a bit chunky, have said, ‘oh, he might not have the quality’, but I’ve said all along, ‘you have no idea what this is underneath the bonnet!'”

‘Matthew’s’ low mileage isn’t just down to his age — it was also a tactical call on the part of Piggy, who believed a less-is-more approach would best set the horse up for a bright future.

“He’s probably run in four or five events this year, because he was amazing at Le Lion last year, and I know he’s a five-star horse,” she says. “The owners have just been brilliant, because I just said, ‘I don’t want to do masses — I don’t want to just run him for the sake of running. Can this be his target, and I’ll just start him at Aston Advanced, and if he’s what he feels like he’s going to be, I really wouldn’t do much more — he could do an OI and then go to Blenheim.’ Thankfully, they trusted me, and he came out feeling like he just was on his job.”

The pair had begun their week in joint second place with Oliver and Rosie; they then stepped into overnight second on their own after yesterday’s showjumping. That phase saw dressage leaders Tom McEwen and MHS Brown Jack eliminated for tipping five rails, and while Piggy, like Oliver, jumped a clear round, she ended up adding two seconds, or 0.8 time penalties, to her score card when Matthew slipped in the dewy morning grass and lost time regaining his footing and balance. That slip might seem like it cost them the win — but actually, as they were so swift today, they’d have been relegated to second regardless for being further from the optimum time.

“It’s absolutely brilliant — obviously, right at the minute I’m sort of like, ‘oh god, that was annoying to have my slips in the showjumping’, but who cares in the grand scheme of things,” says Piggy — interviewed, at that point, before Oliver’s round. “He’s eight, and he’s so exciting — I think it’s exactly what we all do this for. The days and moments like that; you give the owners a hug and we’re all buzzing, because it’s a horse we’ve done the journey with and we’ve always believed in, and to then get on a stage and do that… it’s cool!”

Pure joy: Piggy March crosses the finish with Brookfield Future News. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Though Piggy had all faith that John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn’s gelding would thrive at Blenheim, she also went into today’s finale with the pragmatism of someone who’s produced plenty of young horses, and knows all too well that they’re always an unknown quantity until they’ve actually got stuck into their biggest challenges.

“I was hoping it wouldn’t be too much,” she says, “but there’s a couple of times that he looked, especially coming down to the waters — and he’s not funny with water at all. But I think with people, with lots going on, this is more of an occasion — and that big main water crossing is quite an eyeful. My little Halo did the same thing last year; coming here for the first time, they just come down to it and have a little bit of a like, ‘Is that for real? What are we about to jump into across here?’ And so I was hoping he would just take that in his stride.”

Something that’s helped prepare him for the big atmosphere of Blenheim, she thinks, is the variety she’s injected into his education.

“I even took him showjumping a couple of times. We went to Bolesworth, because I had to go with one of our young breeding horses, and I thought, because he’s not running very much I’ll give him a different experience with absolutely no pressure, but with speakers, music, a bit of razz, different type of course-building — it’s square, it’s bigger, and there’s quite a lot to look at. I think that will have done him a good bit of good.”

Tim Price and Jarillo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tim Price has been a particularly busy boy this week, with three exciting up-and-comers contesting this class. His first, Viscount Viktor, was among the earliest rounds of the day; he picked up 20 penalties at the back water en route to 65th place, and his last, the exquisite Chio 20, ran clear but steadily to move from the top ten down to 18th with 15.6 time penalties.

The star of the show, though, in his string at least? The nine-year-old Jarillo, who has stayed in the top ten all week, and maintained his overnight third place by adding just 2 time penalties today.

“He doesn’t make many mistakes,” says Tim of the Dutch-bred gelding, who he rides for Lucy Allison, Frances Stead, and James and Rachel Good. “He’s just a really classy little horse, and he keeps trying very hard. It’s quite rare for such a careful horse to be so brave on cross-country, and today was a big test and with a lot of different things. He’s done one four-short before in Ireland, but this was definitely a step along, being what it is, and he dealt with it all really well.”

All three horses, Tim hopes, will do big things in the years to come — but Jarillo, particularly, has a certain something about him.

“He’s so nice to ride,” he says. “I’m very lucky, because he can do a lot of different things. He’s quirky; he’s horse-shy, and he’s a bit sharp and he has his little idiosyncrasies, but ultimately, he’s looking at the fence, at the profile, at the ground, and he’s very careful. Some horses have got something special with the way they deal with it all. He’s one of those.”

The course, Tim explains, was a big ask for these inexperienced horses, and gave plenty of opportunities for educational moments — whether they were the productive kind, as far as the leaderboard goes, or not.

“It came quite thick and fast after just a couple of minutes, so it was quite a bit for them to look at, first with the water crossing, and then the big water at the back. So you saw quite a few have a green moment that they either paid for or got away with — but he was good, and he just grew into the course as we went and came home full of running.”

Caroline Harris and D. Day brave the rain to threaten the podium. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Caroline Harris has been always believed in D. Day, but this season, she’s giving the rest of us plenty of reason to buy into the dream, too. Despite the very nearly impossible conditions of the spring season, he finished third in a very tough CCI4*-S at Chatsworth, and today, he took fourth place in this class, putting just 2.8 time penalties on his score sheet in the heaviest of the afternoon’s rain.

“He was really, really super,” says Caroline. “I tried to go as quick as I could, but it’s a bit slippery now that it’s rained a bit. He made it feel very, very easy, though; I’m so lucky to have him. He’s very clever. I’ve never actually ridden a horse quite like him — all he wants to do is please, and do his absolute best, and he’s such a quick thinker.”

Selina Milnes and Cooley Snapchat. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Selina Milnes and Cooley Snapchat made their first big bid for the sporting spotlight at Bramham this year, where they handily won the tough CCI4*-S class, and it was that experience gained that enabled the nine-year-old to improve upon last year’s result here — a fifteenth place finish in his four-star debut — to finish fifth, picking up 4.4 time penalties on course to add to their dressage score of 29.4.

“He just took everything in his stride — we didn’t have one scary moment,” says Selina. “He was good through the top water, which they’ve been going a bit green at, but I probably wasted a little bit of time getting to the first water because I thought we need to stay out, but he was really good. He jumped round here last year as an eight year old without the pressure, and this year I thought, ‘come on then, let’s have a crack.’ I ride probably better under pressure, because I’m more forward, and he’s really stepped up this week.”

Tom Jackson and Plot Twist B. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The influence of the course allowed for some major climbs up the leaderboard, and one of the most significant of those was that of Ireland’s Padraig McCarthy and Pomp N Circumstance, who executed a weeklong climb from 35th to sixth after adding just 4 time penalties, and nothing at all in yesterday’s showjumping, to their first-phase score of 31.8. Similarly, Tom Jackson and Plot Twist B were able to climb from 27th to seventh, beginning the week on a score of 30.5, tipping a pole yesterday, and then making light work of the course today with one of the fastest rounds of the day and just 1.6 time penalties.

Vittoria Panizzon and DHI Jackpot. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon took eighth place with the nine-year-old DHI Jackpot, who nipped around with 7.2 time penalties to add to his first-phase score of 29, completing a climb from 14th place. This is just his third four-star run, though in a field such as this one, that still counts as reasonably hefty experience to bring to the party.

“Maybe he’s done a little more this year than some of the other horses, but I saw quite a few look a bit green this morning, and I’m delighted he wasn’t,” says Vittoria. “He was completely at ease with all of it. I’d have liked to be a little bit quicker, but it’s the first time he’s seen more crowds. He’s done a few four-stars, but this is the first one that’s a big party, so I just wanted to make sure that we focused on the jumps.”

Part of bringing young horses to big events such as this, Vittoria explains, is learning what you can do, and how you can hone the plan of action, in the future.

“To be honest, he’s got such a long stride, I could have taken a few more strides out in some combinations. But you feel a bit presumptuous thinking that when you haven’t seen anyone do that all day,” she says. “But that hollow [13AB], at which everyone I know of did four, that four was very short for him — we barely fit it in. In hindsight, I’d do three there, but that’s thing with the young horses that’s good at these events — you know what you could chance next time.”

The water crossings and top water, which were so influential through the day, posed no issue for the attractive gelding, who’s practically part fish thanks to a unique element to his training routine.

“I’m glad that, as I predicted, he wasn’t worried about the lake because we take him to swim in the River Wye, so he’s used to going in a big river every week and leading everyone swimming,” explains Vittoria. “It’s been a fantastic way to build a relationship with him, because I’ve ridden him since last year, not since a baby. He was beautifully produced before, but we needed to really get that bond. I need them to completely read me, and completely trust me, and like they’d do anything for me as long as I try and point them in the right direction.”

Julia Krajewski and Nickel 21. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Germany’s Olympic champion Julia Krajewski stepped up to ninth place with the exciting Nickel 21, who finished third in the German National Championship at Luhmühlen’s CCI4*-S this summer. As he had there, he delivered a cross-country round that brimmed with confidence and competence, and added just 6.8 time penalties to his tally, which saw him add nothing in yesterday’s showjumping to his first-phase 29.5.

James Avery and Dallas 13. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tenth place became the domain of Kiwi James Avery and everybody’s new favourite horse, the seriously smart and swift Dallas 13, who stepped up from first-phase 24th when adding just 2.4 time penalties today and a rail yesterday. This is just the second four-star start for the gelding, who caught everyone’s eye in the first phase, not least for his extraordinarily pretty, almost effeminate head.

But “looks can be deceiving,” laughs James. “He got a couple of ABSOs for chasing people around the paddock at home and biting them.”

“He’s well known to the police,” says his partner, eventer Holly Woodhead, wryly.

It was Holly who, with her sister, dressage rider Amy Woodhead, bred the gelding — though not with any intention of creating an eventer.

“He was supposed to be a dressage horse, and he turned out not to be one — he enjoyed jumping, but he was very late to eventing,” says James of the son of Dimaggio. “He’s a spirited character. He stepped up to four-star at Hartpury [last month], and I was really proud of him there. The bigger fences were good for him, because he’s been slightly cocky, and around Novice tracks, that enthusiasm was challenging!”

James first sat on him as a six-year-old; until then, he’d ‘done a bit of everything’ and spent some time in Cornwall with a young rider, who, Holly says, “he just towed around everywhere!”

Now, though, with his bad boy younger years behind him, he’s giving James and Holly plenty of reason to continue with his ongoing education, even if he still has his ‘Dallas moments’ — for example, he likes to travel with someone in the box with him.

“Dangerously, you probably start dreaming about what you could do,” says James with a smile. “But he’s just so confident, and he gives you the confidence to ride and be fast. That’s what you want, to know that they’re going to find their way over.”

James was full of praise for David Evans’ course, which he earmarks as a particularly important milestone for his developing horses.

“I think he’s done a fantastic job of asking questions of young horses. There’s no traps, there’s one way to ride it and you just ride the young horses with confidence to that, and if they make a mistake, then they’re here for education. It was a course on which he just grew and grew and confidence and a lot of that is down to course designing. We like to pick and choose whose courses we ride, and this is one of them.”

Katherine Coleman and Sirius SB. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Katherine Coleman was our only US completion after a shock tumble for Hallie Coon and Cute Girl at the penultimate fence took them out of the top-ten spot they’d occupied overnight. Both are absolutely fine — and fortunately, crossing paths with Katherine and her exciting Sirius SB on her way to the startbox while walking back to the collecting ring didn’t put her off. She cruised around to add a developmental 17.6 time penalties to her 30.3 dressage and single rail and time penalty, which put her in a final 33rd place — and with lots to look forward to with the exceptional gelding.

Katie Malensek and Landjaeger. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Canadian grant recipient and amateur rider Katie Malensek and her Landjaeger picked up a frangible penalty at fence three, but were otherwise clear to cross the finish line with 24 time penalties, finishing 64th with a 29.9 dressage and four rails yesterday on their scorecard, too — and, like Katherine, plenty to look forward to and lots of education to savour from their week at Blenheim.

Course designer David Evans was delighted with the outcome of a packed weekend of cross-country, which saw nearly 200 horses across the two classes tackle his tracks.

“I watch every single horse, and I thought that it was educational for them,” he says. “The ones that shouldn’t go through have probably learnt from it by having the odd runout here and there, because it wasn’t a straightforward course — there was lots to think about all the time. When I’m asked where the problems will be, you never want to think [there’ll be a specific place] — you want the penalties to be spread around the course. And they were, so it was a good day, I think.”

Designing for the CCI4*-L is a very different beast to designing for the eight- and nine-year-olds, he explains — and not just because of the difference in length.

“[In the CCI4*-L], potentially you’re getting them ready for five-star or championships,” he says. “I’ve walked courses of other people’s design and learned from them, and then I put bits and pieces together. You’ve got to make them think from the beginning to the end, and you’ve got to start with a pretty serious question. That says, ‘this is how it’s going to be, boys and girls, from now on’. I think this year, I gave them a few more options at fences, so actually, they get to it and go, ‘I’m going to do this’ or ‘I’m going to do that’.”

For today’s CCI4*-S, he says, “it’s a championship, and it’s got to be a four-star, but you’ve also got to back off a little bit. You might have an extra stride or an extra two strides, but it’s got to be educational. The other thing that is really, really difficult is when there’s 100 horses in a class — you don’t know what mix [of ability] it’s going to be, so it’s a hard one.”

That’s all — for now — from a jam-packed, wall-to-wall, extraordinarily busy week at Blenheim, where we’ve seen stars born and reconfirmed alike, and, perhaps, the five-star champions and gold medallists of the not-too-distant future — after all, this class in particular has an almost spooky track record of producing those within a year or two of a win here. Pick your favourites now, folks — their time is coming.

The final top ten in the 2023 Blenheim eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S.

EN’s coverage of Blenheim is presented by Kentucky Performance Products. Click here to learn all about their full line of science-backed nutritional support products, including Neigh-Lox Advanced for digestive support.

Blenheim Palace International: [Website] [Entries] [Live Stream]

It wouldn’t be unfair to suggest that Blenheim Palace International’s CCI4*-L cross-country course is generally on the softer end of the level — a ‘B’ four-star, if you will, and if the FEI will ever take my suggestion about A and B four-stars into consideration for MER purposes, which I wish they would. That’s not a criticism of the event, nor of designer David Evans’s courses; they serve an essential purpose in developing less experienced horses and riders and helping to springboard them to the harder end of the level spectrum. They use terrain in a friendly way; many of Blenheim’s galloping straights are on flatter, easier sections of ground, over which horses can coast without tiring quite so much. Generally, we’d be unsurprised to see ten, even twenty pairs make it home inside the time, and a reasonably high clear rate.

Today, it wasn’t quite that sort of day. Though the course didn’t appear to be enormously different to last year’s at first glance, it pretty immediately began causing numerous issues from the word go — and not just for inexperienced horses or riders, but for those who’ve placed at five-star or been enormously consistent over tough tracks. That meant that our 93 dressage finishers became 88 cross-country starters following withdrawals — including that of US representatives Tiana Coudray and Cancaras Girl — and those 88 starters became 66 finishers, giving a 75% completion rate. Of those finishers, 50 completed without jumping penalties, yielding a 57% clear rate, and just seven were clear inside the time. While that’s not really far off the event’s previous numbers — in 2019, for example, it had a 78% completion rate and a 62% clear rate — it still felt like a pretty colossal day of cross-country due to the sheer stature of the horses and riders who slipped out of contention today.

Those  shock moments included a fall at the penultimate fence for Gemma Stevens from her Badminton mount Jalapeno, who had been third after dressage and were among the first out of the box today; a fall at fence five for overnight fourth-placed Laura Collett from Aoife Clark’s Calahari; a retirement for sixth-placed Pippa Funnell and Billy Walk On; a rider fall for German National Champions Julia Krajewski and Ero de Cantraie, who had sat tenth after dressage; a heaping helping of time for seventh-placed Kirsty Chabert and Opposition Loire, who subsequently slipped to 35th; and time and a missed flag for New Zealand’s Sam Lissington and Lord Seekonig, which pushed them from eighth to 45th.

Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

But nevertheless, our leaders remained unruffled. World Champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir have had a bit of a rollercoaster year, full of highs — such as becoming the first-ever British winners of CHIO Aachen over the summer, and helping the British team to gold at the Europeans — and surprising lows, too, including a shock run-out early at Kentucky and another while working towards that gold medal in Haras du Pin. But every exceptionally good — and still, really, very young — horse needs a season in which to work out how to cope with all the challenges that the sport can bring, and in every stage of the pair’s round across the country in Blenheim’s CCI4*-L today, it became clearer and clearer that they’d taken all those lessons learned and put them into coming back better than ever. They added nothing to their first-phase score of 20.5 — Yas’s career-best international dressage score at any level, no less — to retain their overnight lead and work towards regaining the Blenheim title, which they earned back in 2021, also while leading from pillar to post.

“It was really good round, and it was enjoyable — well, enjoyable to an extent!” laughs Yas. “He picked everything up super easy, and was right on his lines, and he responded when I said ‘go’ and woahed when I said ‘woah’. It was really important just to have a nice, enjoyable, positive round today, and I think he’s done that.”

That, she says, was her major goal all along in entering Blenheim, a decision that first came about because he came out of the Europeans, with its shortened track, so well — and because none of her other horses were ready to go out for their holidays in the field, so Banzai would have been flying solo in his downtime.

“I just wanted to have a nice time,” she says. “It’s so nice to come to this sort of event, and it’s just a beautiful place to be able to compete — my owners absolutely love it and my family come and watch, so it’s kind of just about having a really nice time between all of us and enjoying the horse, because he’s so special. He’s an absolute pleasure and just a joy to have so for us just to actually enjoy him and have nothing else think about is really nice.”

For Yas, logging a good round without external pressure — for example, that of a country’s expectations — was a good tonic, but it didn’t mean she went out of the startbox totally without pressure. The pressure she puts on herself, she explains, comes down to a desire to make sure everyone involved with her and her horse get rewarded for their efforts.

“I always just want to do my best and not let anybody down,” she says. “So many people put so much work into this; my team at home, and the team that come here, and everyone behind the scenes. It’s a massive group effort and when we have a good day, it’s everybody’s good day.”

Ros Canter and Izilot DHI. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Ros Canter remains in second place overnight with the very exciting Izilot DHI, who came out of the box as his most committed self today to cruise around just one second over the time. That sends the pair into tomorrow’s finale just 1.5 penalties — or three seconds — behind the overnight leaders.

“He was amazing. He felt really, really grown up out there; really honest,” says Ros, who’s logged some impressive wins with the ten-year-old — including in the CCI4*-S at Blair last month — but has also dealt with some high-profile disappointments, including an early 20 in Bramham’s CCI4*-L this year while in the lead.

Today, though, is “probably the first time I’ve pushed him for the time around a long-format like this. He felt a little bit weary two thirds of the way around, so it’s the first time he’s had to dig that deep, but he was so focused with the crowds and things, all the things we previously had problems with. He was fantastic.”

Of David Evans’s surprisingly influential course, she says, “he definitely created a thinking course. I think some of the distances were a bit different to what we maybe would have picked, but I think that makes it a course where you had to really decide, make a plan for your own horse, decide what canter you wanted before a fence, and commit to that canter. Some you could choose to roll on to,  others, you had to really make a difference to the canter — and that was the challenge of it. I think it was all about walking your lines multiple times, knowing what canter you wanted to get to, and knowing what horse you were on.”

Piggy March and Halo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Last year’s eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S champion Halo, ridden by Piggy March, stepped up from overnight ninth place on a 28.7 to two-phase third after adding just 0.8 time penalties for coming in two seconds over the optimum time. Their round was one of the last of the day, just before five in the afternoon, and saw them make the most of those gaps opened on the leaderboard by surprise problems.

“I’m over the moon — he was fabulous,” says Piggy, who confesses that she “hated today and being so late. I showjumped my first horse at five past eight or something this morning and then waited all day to see all sorts going on. I’ve never been so late at a three-day.”

That time, she says, wasn’t exactly put to productive use — instead, she spent most of it second-guessing her intentions in even running the inexperienced little stallion.

“I was worried about him; he’s not got much mileage, and good horses were having problems,” she says. “I think the world of him, so it was like, ‘is this right?’ I had all day to get in quite a tizz, and I thought, ‘maybe today’s not the day; maybe I’m not feeling it; maybe we don’t go’… I did about twenty wees in the last hour before I got on, thinking, ‘I’m getting too old! What am I doing?!'”

But then, she says, “I got out there and had a whale of a time! He felt fantastic. He gets a little bit on his head and a bit flat at the end, so I was just balancing to get them done, but he still finished so well. He picked up and galloped across the finish; he’s got some engine on him for a small horse, and he makes up all the distances. He eats them all up.”

Piggy was one of several riders to make mention of the distances as they were set on the course — and, specifically, that many appeared to walk on a half-stride, requiring adjustments to find a flowing rhythm though them.

“I didn’t mind it when I first walked it, but I didn’t love some of the distances,” she says. “But then I had a great ride, so it was good. It rode tough enough, and the second water was a big question — it was a big jumping effort, and you had to slightly angle it to make sure they could see the second part, so a lot of horses sort of guessed at that or held their breath a bit. Halo used to slither into water a little bit to start with which surprises me, because he’s got balls, so you’d think he’d try to be a bit more careful with those. But today, he jumped in really brave and was so balanced that he just sort of turned and then could ride to the corner. He was a little Pegasus, a little unicorn today!”

For Halo, who’s just in his ten-year-old season, his big autumn aim has thrown even more challenges at him than it reasonably should have.

“I just hope he’s okay,” says Piggy, “because when we arrived in the stables they’d put us in with mares all around us. I was just like, ‘are you kidding us?’ The first day was distracting enough, and he’s been quite chatty, but I don’t really blame him. I was disappointed with his dressage yesterday, because that’s not normally what he does, and that’s the first time he’s ever made mistakes in training or a show or anything, so I was just a bit disheartened. I was like, ‘is he on it this week?’ Because he’s stabled round so many mares, or something like that. I questioned it all — but then, he was a lion out there today.”

Alex Hua Tian and Chicko. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

China’s Alex Hua Tian stepped up from just outside the top ten to two-phase fourth with Kate Willis’s Chicko after romping home just one second over the 10:20 optimum time. It’s an exciting formative step for the new partnership, which came together at the start of this year; this is their first CCI4*-L in tandem and just thirteen-year-old Chicko’s second-ever start at the level. His first, here in 2021, was with former rider and producer Polly Stockton, but saw him eliminated in this phase after Polly took a tumble.

Since taking him over before the beginning of the season, though, Alex has been building towards an exciting sophomore attempt at the level for the game gelding.

“I was very quietly confident coming here,” he says. “I’ve had such an awesome year with him across the country, and as a partnership I just feel like we’ve clicked straight away. He wouldn’t have the range in his gallop of some horses out there, but he has a tremendous amount of heart, and I trust him so much. You can just go; he’s brilliant.”

That one little weakness — a slight lack of gallop — just means that Alex has to ride committedly and aim to maintain speed, impulsion, and energy around the course in order to economise.

“He had a little tired moment right at the top where everyone else was, too, but then he picked up coming home. It does mean I have to go out meaning business, and I have to make sure I stay tight to every line and I go forwards to everything as much I can. I took, maybe, a little pull maybe to the last, which was our one second over. But I don’t think I could have taken a pull much anywhere else.”

And as for the course, Alex, too, was critical but fair in describing it as, well, not everyone’s cup of tea.

“It suits him, but it wouldn’t suit lots of horses,” he says. “It didn’t walk big, but it was very bitty, and there were lots of decisions to make. There were no committed distances. Everything was either this or that, which is a polite way of saying ‘a little bit on the half distance!’ But it suits him, because he does give you all of those options. Some of my other ones would give you fewer options.

“From the moment I’ve had him, I’ve always really trusted him. He’s just a really cool animal. He’s maybe a bit more workmanlike as a type, but he just tries brilliant.”

Harry Meade and Annaghmore Valoner. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Harry Meade and Annaghmore Valoner move from 16th place after dressage to fifth overnight after coming in three seconds inside the time. That wasn’t Harry’s only speedy trip around the course today — he also delivered a clear inside the time with Et Hop du Matz, who sits eleventh going into the final day of competition. Et Hop Du Matz was one of the first rounds of the day, which, Harry reckons, might have played a part in his two positive rides.

“I think the course rode as it walked, and there’s an advantage, sometimes, to going early, because you don’t watch everyone,” he says. “You have a plan, although there’s an element of the unknown, because you don’t know if the plan is going to be totally suitable.”

But, he says, “I thought the course rode really well, and David Evans did a really good job. He had some good questions, and some attacking distances; the one thing I’d say is that, although my horses were good at it, the coffin was a bit long. Not so much the exit, but particularly the entrance — it was a bit long, so they’d dwell over the ditch, and that would then make the exit long. But it was a good course; it was clear to the horses, and it took some riding, but it was all of an appropriate standard.”

Annaghmore Valoner, for her part, made easy work of her first CCI4*-L, and her return to Blenheim for the first time since her top-ten finish in the CCI4*-S here back in 2021, when she was still under the saddle of Australian five-star winner Sam Griffiths. When Sam decided to take the role of New Zealand chef d’equipe, Harry was delighted to get the ride on the now-eleven-year-old, who he’s made his FEI debut with this year after she sat out 2022.

In this, her step up, he set out with a clear goal so that she could learn and improve throughout.

“She was super. She sweats up in the collecting ring, and walks at twenty miles per hour, so my main aim for her was to come out of the startbox, settle her into a gallop, and just let her breathe,” he explains. “She was up on her minute markers the whole way around and happy and confident — they both were.”

Tom Rowland and Dreamliner. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

One of the most interesting — and, perhaps, under-the-radar — horse transfers of the last off-season was that of the Chamberlayne family’s Dreamliner, who had previously been piloted by Jonty Evans, Padraig McCarthy, and, latterly, Oliver Townend, who stepped him up to five-star last season, to British rider Tom Rowland. They’ve been on a getting-to-know-you mission since then that’s looked very promising indeed, with a sixth-place finish in the tough CCI4*-S at Hartpury last month, and today, they really clicked into one another’s mindset to execute a classy clear two seconds inside the time, propelling them from 29th to overnight sixth on a two-phase score of 32.1.

Before he set out on course, though, Tom admits that he, like Piggy, felt a twinge of nerves.

“I felt a bit apprehensive, because I was maybe a little bit blasé beforehand, but I thought the course was pretty similar to last year,” says Tom. “I’d had two nice rounds here last year — okay, not on him — but then it caused chaos this morning. I was like, ‘oh my god, I’ve got to take this seriously!'”

But, he continues, “I actually had one of those really rare rounds where I didn’t have a single scary moment. There were places where, because he’s got a very long stride, I added in a distance here and there, which I wouldn’t have thought I should be doing on him. But in a way it works quite well, just to get a bit of time sometimes to see and then move him. I’m learning about him all the time and learning what’s right or wrong, and today, he was actually brilliant. He galloped all the way to the end and felt like he could have gone on for another three minutes.”

Every competition the pair go to represents another huge milestone in their tandem learning process, as Tom explains.

“He’s new to me; I’ve only ridden him [at competitions] four times, and obviously, he’s a very well-known horse. But I absolutely love him, and I feel like I’ve learned a little bit from him each round. He took me by surprise a bit at Burgham, because I found him really very strong, but I also felt that that was the best balance he’d galloped in. He’s so reliable and straight, but I’ve been trying to work particularly on our steering, because he’s a big horse, and I was really pleased with how adjustable he was today,” he says. “I think it’s an Oliver thing — you land over a fence and he’s gone. He’s so fast and so scopey.”

Tom’s not afraid to admit that the new addition to his string is keeping him dreaming — and understandably so.

“I’m so grateful to the Chamberlaynes for asking me to ride him over the winter. This is only my fifth event on him, but I hope he [comes out] feeling good, because I’d love to try to take him to a five-star next year. He’s such a tryer — I’m buzzing with him.”

Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality now sit seventh, dropping from overnight fifth after adding 5.6 time penalties, while Sarah Bullimore and her talented young horse Irish Trump stepped up from 17th to eighth after adding just 2.4 time penalties to their 30.8 first-phase mark.

Will Rawlin and Ballycoog Breaker Boy also enjoyed a step up, moving from 13th on 30.2 to ninth with 3.2 time penalties to add, while a slimmer addition of 1.2 time penalties ushered five-star partnership Felicity Collins and RSH Contend Or into the top ten from first-phase 31st place.

Joe Meyer and Harbin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Sadly, the plethora of problems caused around the course today also caught US rider Cosby Green and her Highly Suspicious and Canadian duo Hanna Bundy and Lovely Assistant in their slipstream. Both incurred eliminations on course, but eventing fans from across the pond had plenty to cheer about as Cali-based Aussie Bec Braitling piloted Caravaggio to a completion — though, frustratingly, with a 20 and 32 time penalties, which sees them sit 62nd overnight — and Ocala-based Kiwi Joe Meyer logged a quick clear with Harbin to add just 4 time penalties and climb to 27th place.

Tomorrow’s final day of competition begins with the final horse inspection at 8.00 a.m. (3.00 a.m. EST), and will be followed by showjumping, which we’re pretty sure begins at 11.00 a.m. (6.00 a.m. EST), but so many timetable adjustments have been made throughout today that we can’t tell you with full confidence whether this is accurate or not until tomorrow morning’s lists are published. We’ll be sure to update this once we receive confirmation, though.

The top ten in the CCI4*-L after cross-country.

Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Before the cross-country kicked off, this morning had already seen plenty of action, thanks to an early start for several hours of showjumping in the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds. Just 20 of the 94 starters delivered faultless rounds over a track that caused no shortage of both time and jumping issues.

The biggest, and most influential of those? The shock elimination of first-phase leaders Tom McEwen and MHS Brown Jack, who had an enormously uncharacteristic five rails down — “a beautiful round, sadly three holes lower than the course,” to quote one of our media cohorts — to incur elimination under this year’s new FEI rules.

That, plus 0.8 time penalties added to overnight-equal-second-placed, and now third-placed Piggy March and Brookfield Future News‘s tally, opened the door for a new face atop the leaderboard — that of recent Burghley winner Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent, who’s arguably the most experienced horse in this class’s line-up, with a five-star start to her name already. She added nothing to her 24.7 first-phase score, which had seen her sit in equal second overnight, and will go into tomorrow’s cross-country finale with a 0.8 penalty — or two second — margin over Piggy and ‘Matthew’, who picked up their time penalties while trying to execute conservative turns to avoid the effects of the slick dew on the grass.

Tim Price chopped and changed the order of his horses in the standings after the talented Chio 20 dropped a late rail to slip to sixth, allowing stablemate Jarillo, fifth after dressage, to climb to overnight third on the strength of his faultless round.

Similarly, Caroline Harris‘s D. Day stepped up from tenth to fourth, and Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon and DHI Jackpot moved from fourteenth to fifth.

Hallie Coon and Cute Girl pull the US into the top ten at Blenheim. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

British-based US rider Hallie Coon and Cute Girl also stepped into the top ten, to overnight ninth, with a double-clear, while Katherine Coleman and Sirius SB added a rail and 0.4 time penalties to sit 36th overnight. Tiana Coudray and d’Artagnan, too, added a rail and 1.2 time penalties, and will go into cross-country in 60th place, while 21-year-old Rowan Laird and Sceilig Concordio added nothing to their first-phase score of 41 and will sit 64th overnight.

Canadian travel grant recipients Katie Malensek and Landjaeger had an educational, rather than competitive, round, adding four rails to their first-phase score of 29.9 to move down to 82nd.

Tomorrow’s cross-country has been moved to a 10.00 a.m. start time (5.00 a.m. EST), and will be live-streamed on Horse&Country TV. We’ll be bringing you as much of a round-up of the day’s sport as we can — though unfortunately, the powers-that-be have made the decision to run both classes simultaneously and without the CCI4*-S in reverse order of merit, so you may have to bear with us as we do some interpretive event reporting. It’s all about adaptability, eh?

Until next time, folks: Go Eventing!

The top ten after this morning’s influential showjumping phase in Blenheim’s eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S.

EN’s coverage of Blenheim is presented by Kentucky Performance Products. Click here to learn all about their full line of science-backed nutritional support products, including Neigh-Lox Advanced for digestive support.

Blenheim Palace International: [Website] [Entries] [Live Stream]