Classic Eventing Nation

Chris Burton and Clever Louis take the top spot, just two years after the Australian rider last won this title. Photo by William Carey.

After the overnight withdrawal of joint leader William Fox-Pitt and Georgisaurous, all eyes were on Australia’s Chris Burton as the SsangYong Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-olds headed into its cross-country finale. Surely the fastest man in the world, who won here in 2017 with his WEG mount Cooley Lands, would have no problem securing the win with Kate and Geoffrey Guy’s Clever Louis?

There was just one enormous hurdle to overcome: he had only been riding the horse for a month, and had never so much as competed him in a one-day event. Though the gelding had been well produced by Germany’s Ben Leuwer, who rides for Dirk Schrade, each step of the influential cross-country phase would be a fact-finding mission.

But who were we to doubt Burto, who has proven his prowess across the country time and time again, against all sorts of odds? He duly produced one of just two clear rounds inside the time to deliver the only FOD of the class – and win the competition with a staggering margin of 6.9 penalties.

“I’m really delighted to have this lovely horse. We’re very excited about him – he’s very Thoroughbred, and he’s very honest across the country,” says Burto. “It’s my first ride on him in competition, but I’m very lucky to have an amazing training facility at Lower Chapel Marsh Farm, so I was able to get to know him before I came here. From the first ride on him, he really felt like my horse. We were always planning to do this and then go to Boekelo in an attempt to get a Tokyo qualification, so if all that goes well, we’ll have a think during the winter. If he keeps going like that, he could be [a candidate for the Olympics].”

Chris Burton pilots Clever Louis to a fast clear round, securing the eight- and nine-year-old championship in their first competition together. Photo by William Carey.

Though the CCI4*-L competitors had enjoyed a glorious day of sunshine for their cross-country rounds, the CCI4*-S was plagued by a sudden torrent of rain, which made the reasonably firm ground slippery in places. But fortunately for Burto, some last-minute insights helped him to keep the rhythm.

“I was lucky that my mate Tim Price came up to my in the warm-up, and he said that some of the things we thought might be four [strides] – like across the water – the add is better, and even out of the coffin, the three isn’t there, and the four is better because it’s getting slippery,” he explains. “I was worried he’d be a little bit strong to add, but he wasn’t – he came back to me quite nicely, and he actually sped up towards the end, which I think is really unique. The Thoroughbred started to come out. At the fences he was unbelievable, really looking through the flags and just trying to look for the numbers.”

Tom McEwen and Dreamaway II finish second. Photo by William Carey.

Tom McEwen and Dreamaway II climbed from tenth place after the first phase to eventual second, finishing on a score of 36.6 after adding 5.6 time penalties across the country.

“He’s come on leaps and bounds, and now really has the desire to crack on and get on with it,” says Tom of Barbara Cooper’s eight-year-old Irish Sport Horse, who was running in just his second CCI4*-S. “I wasn’t perfect all the way around, but he really sorted himself out. He shortened himself when he had to; he’s got a big old stride, especially for an eight-year-old – he seems to be forever growing! He really ate the course up and didn’t make anything feel difficult.”

Though Tom admits he wasn’t going as fast as he possibly could with the maternal grandson of Cruising, he praised the efforts of the Blenheim team in producing the best possible ground they could have for the week’s temperamental conditions.

“They’d done such a good job and worked seriously hard all week,” he says. “Yes, in some patches it was possibly a bit slippier, but it wasn’t dramatic.”

‘Dreamy’, who won the Intermediate championships at Gatcombe this summer, will finish his season on this result, saving his first CCI4*-L for next year – and it’s a productive note to finish on.

“He’s done three phenomenal phases all week, and now I really feel like he’s seeking the flags,” says Tom.

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Chilli Knight… what can I say?! 🥰 Love this little man so much. He put in a foot perfect XC round in the prestigious 8/9yo CCI4* S class @blenheimhorse to finish 3 seconds inside the time, only one of two to do so.🥉 place in one of the most competitive classes of the season! Alfie is such a consistent horse, always in the placings and a complete xc machine. I actually saw a stride from the start box that set the tone for one of the best rounds I’ve ever had & I couldn’t stop smiling! As most of you will know Alfie is up for sale and I’m doing everything I can to keep the ride on this very special boy – if you know of anyone who is looking to own the most wonderfully uncomplicated, super talented XC machine (and keep him with me) please let me know! . #speedy #nopulling #justkicking #somuchfun #chilliknight #eventer #horsesofinstagram #chillibaby #equestrian #sybiht (Some of the products in this picture were #gifted as part of my brand relationships)

A post shared by Gemma Tattersall (@gemma_tattersall) on Sep 22, 2019 at 9:38am PDT

Gemma Tattersall rounded out the top three with Chilli Knight, who has been put up for sale by owners Christopher and Lisa Stone, and who added just a solitary rail to his 33.1 dressage. In coming home across the country inside the time, he became just one of two horses to do so in this class.

“He’s adjustable and really clever to a fence, so we pretty much saw a stride from the start box,” says Gemma. “That set the tone for the round. He’s naturally very fast anyway; he covers the ground in a very quick and easy way, and he’s quick over his fences but clever, too. If you have to add a stride he does it in such a quick way that he doesn’t really slow down; he’s so clever with his body. I came through the last water and I was probably five or six seconds down, but I knew I could make it back because he’s so quick. He’s got real gears, and he’s not got the most enormous stride so I don’t have to slow down – you can keep coming to the distances without having to set up.”

After a successful 2019 season, which saw them finish 6th in the CCI4*-L at Bramham, Gemma is desperate to keep the ride on the son of Chilli Morning, who she’s produced through the levels. If so, she hopes to aim him for his five-star debut at Pau.

“If there’s anyone out there who wants to buy him for me, I’d be unbelievably happy,” she says. “He’s just been amazing, and really consistent – I call him the Yes Man, because he never says ‘no’ and he’s the ultimate trier. He tries in his dressage, he tries in his showjumping, and he’s unbelievable cross-country. We’ve got such a partnership; he believes me and I believe him. He looks for the flags, and when I say go, he goes. It’s so easy – he’s such a cool little horse.”

Course designer David Evans enjoyed a successful weekend – and an abundance of praise from the riders, who felt that in this, his third year designing at Blenheim, he’d delivered his magnum opus, increasing the intensity from the previous two years without sacrificing the confidence-building rhythm and positivity that he’s become known for.

“Even though I’ve been here for so long doing the ground and doing the building, and even when you’ve been working for the designers, you want to do your own thing,” he says. “You know where the ground is, but until you see horses jumping your new or different ideas, [you don’t know]. It still takes three years to actually make the tweaks you want to all the way around the course. Going into this week, I was actually the most comfortable I’ve been – it’s the hardest course we’ve had here, and a proper four-star, but I felt the most comfortable I’ve felt over the last three years. I felt like I’d actually got to where I want to go with it. Now, in the future, I’ve just got to tweak it a bit.”

Some of those tweaks are already percolating as David looks ahead to next year.

“I felt that for the young horses, I was a little bit unfair where I had their alternative coming down to the water,” he explains. “Some of them just looked like they were coming to the shoulder to the water and just, for a split second, looking at the alternative. So I’ll move that out of the way next year. There were a lot of comments from the eight- and nine-year-old class that they felt their question was more difficult than the straight line, but I don’t want those eight- and nine-year-olds coming down that hill to a straight question, because they’re going to run away with themselves. So I’ll look at that, but otherwise, I’ll probably just do some tweaking.”

One of the major conversations that has come out of Burghley has been whether the levels below are adequately preparing horses and riders for a competition of that intensity, or whether riders are setting up the building blocks for their own downfall by seeking out ‘easy’ qualifications. But David hopes that in upping the ante of Blenheim this year, he’s stopped it from being a ‘soft option’ while still creating a suitable competition for inexperienced horses or riders.

“Each level should be at its star, and this year is the closest I’ve got to a true four-star. You can overstep it sometimes and go four-and-a-bit stars, or three-and-three-quarters, and I just think it’s very difficult to get them ready for a Burghley. We’re all completely different designers; if you look at Ian [Stark]’s track at Bramham, he’s very good at what he does, but it’s Bramham [and, as such, more difficult]. I think it’s important to get them round but to ask similar types of questions and use the same top spreads, and then you get closer to getting them ready. I’m a great believer that actually, once you’ve got to this level, you should maybe do Pau or Luhmühlen and then go on to Badminton or Burghley. It was different in the old days, when we didn’t have the other five-stars, but I think with the modernised part of the sport that maybe that’s the way people should be thinking about doing it. But hopefully, we’re starting now to get them ready for the next level.”

So there you have it, folks – a star is born in Clever Louis, who was probably the least likely prospect for a win here this week. Will he join his former winners in moving swiftly on to five-star glory, team success, and household-name status? Watch this space.

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Piggy French and Brookfield Inocent scoop Piggy’s twelfth international win of the year. Photo by William Carey.

Piggy French sewed up yet another international victory – her twelfth of 2019 – in taking the SsangYong Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials with the ten-year-old Brookfield Inocent. But despite her enormously successful season, which now sees her close to rivalling Michael Jung for the most international victories in a single season, she didn’t go into the showjumping finale brimming with confidence – particularly as designer Di Boddie‘s jumping tracks are renowned for their tough turns, tight times, and need for precision. With Kazuma Tomoto and Brookpark Vikenti just two-tenths of a penalty behind her, she couldn’t afford so much as a time penalty.

“I was stewing a bit last night because I was like, ‘I can’t jump a clear round when it matters!’,” Piggy explains. “Everyone keeps on saying, ‘oh, but you’re having a great time’ – yes, but I keep trying to jump a clear round at the minute and it’s not happening. So you do start thinking, ‘I need to do something different,’ or ‘what’s going wrong’, but I just tried to stick to the system. If I got nervous I just tried to take a deep breath and remind myself that just to do it as quick as possible and stay in my bubble, rather than thinking about having to clear every fence by doing something differently. To be fair to them, they were both in amazing form today, and the time’s so tight, so you’ve got no time to think about softening the canter or getting things nice. You just have to ride pretty much as fast as you can go, and do turn-backs without killing the canter or doing something stupid.”

The ten-year-old gelding, who Piggy took over in the middle of last season, is known for being spooky and distractable – but Piggy, who had only competed in short-format competitions with the gelding, discovered the enormous benefit of showjumping him on the final day in what has been their first long-format together.

“He was totally on it – better, if I’m honest, than he’s probably ever been,” she says. “Maybe that’s going after cross-country; if you watched him closely yesterday he was darting across the track in quite a lot of places, at flags, and people, and dogs, and maybe having the edge off him focused him more today. That was the best he’s ever felt in the ring – and I don’t want to do it again! Usually when I finish a round on him I think, ‘I wish I could go straight back in and do it so much better.'”

Piggy French pilots third-placed Castletown Clover in the prizegiving. Photo by William Carey.

Just as special as taking the win was producing a top result on third-placed Castledown Clover. The fourteen-year-old gelding, who was originally bought for his owner, Susannah Paybody, to enjoy at the lower levels, and who began to compete with Piggy after Susannah won a lesson with her in a magazine competition, also finished on his dressage score.

“They were both so amazing; they’re such lovely horses,” she says. “The little old boy jumped his heart out in there today – it’s a fairytale finish for him. He felt unbelievable in there today and jumped a round as good as any horse that I’ve got can jump on the last day. I think we’ve got years left of enjoying him, and he’s an unbelievable jumper. I’m out of control coming into the combination, and not many horses would actually clear all three parts – I turned around thinking, ‘how on earth are they all still up?!'”

But despite his great result and obvious talent, he’s not a horse that Piggy will push for five-star.

“We want to enjoy him; he’s way exceeded our expectations,” she explains. “If he was a few years younger and he’d done the sport earlier I’d have loved to have done a five-star on him, because he reminds me very much of my little dun cob [Done to Order] that I had when I was starting – super technique, and he just loves it. But I think physically that’s the wrong thing for him to do. I think we can enjoy quite a lot more years with him without unnecessarily putting more wear and tear on him.”

Piggy French and Castletown Clover take third place. Photo by William Carey.

As the Year of the Pig continues to gain momentum, Piggy acknowledges the potent power of confidence – but she’s been careful to keep her feet firmly on the ground with it, too.

“I think it probably does help [to have such a good year], although I don’t really think about it – today we’ll enjoy it, especially with the owners, but tomorrow’s a very different day,” she says. “Tomorrow there’ll be fifteen very fresh horses looking at me, ten fresh owners who haven’t seen me for a few weeks, and they all want the fun next weekend, so you get back on the hamster wheel and you go again. You’re only as good as the horses you’re sat on and the support of the people you’ve got around you, so I know I’m very lucky in that way at the minute and it’s all happening – but you know with horses that tomorrow, or next weekend, the wave can break at any time. You start having jumps down, you fall off at fence two, a horse goes lame – things go wrong, and I’ve been on the crest of a wave for a while, so I’ve got to enjoy it.”

She also hasn’t forgotten the crashing blows of 2012, when the carefully honed structure of her yard and competitive plans began to fall to pieces around her.

“I just hope it’s not a bad omen, because I had the best year of my life in 2011, and everything went so well – and then in the Olympic year it all went Pete Tong. So I’m hoping it’s not a similar pattern,” she says. But it’s easy to see the effect of all the positivity of 2019 on her mindset. “But you know what? What will be will be, and it’s just as special, if not more special, to have a fabulous result for new owners who have never had this sort of result. You can never take them for granted. I won in 2011 here, and I don’t think I’ve won that many four-stars. It’s a great event to win at, and I think they get more special the older you get – and I’m starting to get old!”

Kazuma Tomoto settles for second once again with Brookpark Vikenti. Photo by William Carey.

Kazuma Tomoto completed his goal of qualifying his fourth and final horse for Tokyo, and he did so in spectacular style, delivering one of the three FOD finishes of the competition to place second with Brookpark Vikenti. But the result is slightly bittersweet: in 2017, he and ‘Vince’ missed out on the win in the eight- and nine-year-old class by a tenth of a penalty, while this year – many miles more confident and established – there’s a margin of just two agonising tenths.

The former showjumper gave his horse a stylish and nuanced ride in the arena, judging his distances with almost mechanical precision so that when the gelding skimmed low over the fences, the rail taps could be just that.

“He was giving a good feeling in the warm-up arena, so I was expecting a clear round today. We touched and knocked, it was a bit dodgy, but he was great,” says Kazu with a laugh, scooping Piggy up in a hug.

With gold medals on his mind, Kazu won’t be feeling the sting of such a near-win for too long – now, with four fit, talented, and healthy horses ready to target Tokyo, he’s got some serious decision-making to get down to.

“That’s the main thing to me, so I’m very happy,” he says of the final qualification. “I have four horses, and all of them are good quality horses, so I can’t decide it!”

Sammi Birch and Direct Tullyoran Cruise. Photo by William Carey.

Tact has been the watchword this week for Australia’s Sammi Birch, who finished fourth with the former Izzy Taylor mount Direct Tullyoran Cruise.

“She’s a funny little mare, and I only took the ride on her six months ago,” says Sammi. “And actually, she’s been quite difficult this week, out of the competition. She had a little bit of a moment outside the dressage arena in the collecting ring, and she cleared it – she’s quite feisty and tricky, which is one of the reasons I have the ride on her. But she’s a proper competition mare and loves the job, but I think just finds it all a bit much sometimes. But funnily enough, as soon as she got in the competition arena she’s been incredible. She hasn’t put a foot wrong and she’s given me absolutely everything. I’m thrilled with her – I was thinking that if everything went right, we could be in the top ten in such a class field, so to be top four is pretty fantastic.”

Completing her first long-format with the mare has given Sammi some insight into how she has to manage that feistiness.

“Her weakness is probably a little bit her brain; she finds it all a little bit exciting,” she explains. “In the warm-up today I couldn’t turn left at all or she’d stand up, so I had to jump everything off the right rein. You just hope that when you get in there you can turn left! As long as you don’t let that get to you too much, it’s okay. This is our first long together, and I’ve learned a lot about her – I was hoping that if I made friends with her out in the collecting ring I’d be able to turn left in there, and next time, I’ll happily know that she’s going to behave herself [in the ring].”

Sammi, too, has Tokyo in the back of her mind – and now, with next year’s crucial format change, it means that the mare’s next season remains a big question mark for now.

“The biggest thing today is that she’s now qualified for Tokyo. After yesterday, I think I’d like to take her to Badminton, but it sort of depends on what the Aussies are thinking – it’s difficult now because there’ll only be three on the team, so we’ll decide over the winter. I definitely think five-star is on the cards.”

Poignantly, Sammi’s result comes exactly a year after she underwent a major invasive surgery to remove cancerous cells from her breast.

“It’s been twelve months today since my breast cancer operation – it was the 22nd of September, so we had a shitty finish to last year,” she says. “First, it was breast cancer, and then I was ready to go to WEG on my good horse, who broke, and then we came here and another one hurt itself, so we had a shocking year. So actually, to be standing here, fourth at Blenheim on another horse twelve months later, is pretty exciting.”

Her recovery has been a long and tough one, though it’s impossible to tell when watching her gutsy, strong riding in the ring or across the country.

“It was horrible – I got home from hospital and I couldn’t stand up, basically, for weeks. But I started riding again at six weeks, even though they didn’t want me to. It’s taken a long time for my core to get strong again, because they do a tummy tuck, basically, and take from there. I still feel like my body isn’t quite back to what it was, but it’s a work in progress.” Plus, she acknowledges, “having horses like these makes it worth it.”

Andrew Nicholson and As Is. Photo by William Carey.

Andrew Nicholson piloted As Is, owned by long-time patron Libby Sellar, to fifth place, notching up another impressive four-star completing for the young talent, who has evidently got the raw materials for the job despite some latent physical immaturity. After delivering a double-clear on Saturday’s cross-country course and adding just 0.8 time penalties in the showjumping finale, the pair were able to climb from 33rd after dressage.

“He’s only eight, and there are five-star horses against him in this class,” Andrew points out. “I would think that next year, he’ll fill into his frame and look quite different. To ride, he’s very adjustable with his stride, and very agile, and very cool in his head.”

After a successful season with the young horse, the writing is on the wall for Andrew where the gelding’s future is concerned.

“He’s done Bramham clear inside the time and clear showjumping, and that’s bigger than here – so he’s done the two biggest four-stars double-clear. For me, if they can jump four-star courses, they jump five-star courses – the jumps are no bigger,” he says, but: “He’ll probably do another four-star [next year], but probably rather than going off to Luhmühlen or something it’ll be better to go back to Bramham and then maybe think of Burghley or Pau after that.”

Andrew, who had roundly praised David Evans‘ braver course design decisions after Saturday’s competition, was equally full of praise for the dynamic Di Boddy, who delivered another typically tricky showjumping track.

“I thought the course was very difficult to ride; Di is the master of making the turn-backs for us eventers difficult,” says Andrew. “There’s a couple of fences where you wouldn’t sight them until late, so you needed to be able to ride the correct stride patterns and have rideable horses. It makes the competition exciting, doesn’t it?”

It certainly did. Just eight combinations of the 57 finished without adding penalties – time or jumping – in this phase. Katherine Coleman and Monte Classico, sixth after cross-country, dropped to 17th after pulling two rails and adding three seconds to the clock, while Buck Davidson and Carlevo climbed to 27th after tipping one and adding two. Cornelia Dorr and Sir Patico MH also climbed, finishing in 42nd place with 10 penalties in this phase, and Lexi Scovil and Chico’s Man VDF Z were 55th after adding 19.6 penalties in the horse’s first CCI4*-L.

We’ll be back soon with all the news from the eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S – until then, go Piggy, and Go Eventing!

Blenheim: Website, Ride Times, Live Scoring, Live Stream, EN’s Coverage, EN’s Twitter, EN’s Instagram

Overnight leaders Piggy French and Brookfield Inocent. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

59 combinations came forward for the final horse inspection of the SsangYong Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials after the overnight withdrawal of five horses: Emily King‘s Dargun, Matt Heath‘s Thornton Jones, Samantha Hobbs‘ Cloonbarry Robin, Georgie Spence‘s Wii Limbo, and Georgia Bale‘s Wonham What Next. After a tense morning in the sumptuous grounds of Winston Churchill’s childhood home – and in front of ground jury members PollyAnn Huntington (AUS), Andrew Bennie (NZL), and Jane Holderness-Roddam (GBR) – the field has been thinned to 57.

Jessica McKie and Ask The Boss. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Five horses were sent to the holding box throughout the course of the morning. While three of them – Hannah Bate‘s Riverside Vision, Pippa Funnell‘s Billy The Biz, and Josephine Schnaufer‘s Pasadena 217 – were subsequently accepted upon re-presentation, two didn’t fare so well. Sofia Sjoborg opted to withdraw DHI Mighty Dwight from the holding box, while Jessica McKie‘s Ask The Boss was unfortunately spun.

The conclusion of the horse inspection led directly into the start of the showjumping, which is running in reverse order of merit. The final session, featuring the top twenty competitors, will commence at 3.15 p.m. BST/10.15 a.m. EST. Meanwhile, the CCI4*-S competitors will head to the cross-country track – stay tuned for a full report on the finale of both classes.

Blenheim: Website, Ride Times, Live Scoring, Live Stream, EN’s Coverage, EN’s Twitter, EN’s Instagram