Colleen Rutledge, Laine Ashker & Tim Bourke Complete Burghley

Laine Ashker and Antony Patch show jump in the Land Rover Burghley main arena. Photo by Samantha Clark.

The first session of show jumping has wrapped up in the Land Rover Burghley main arena, and with it we have two U.S. completions and one for our American Irishman Tim Bourke, with Colleen Rutledge jumping clear on her 9-year-old homebred Covert Rights and Laine Ashker having three down on her OTTB partner Anthony Patch. Tim had just one fence down on Luckaun Quality, and we couldn’t be prouder of all three of them. (Click here to watch videos of their rounds on Burghley TV.)

There were only seven clear rounds, and Colleen’s puts her in the lead in 25th place as we break for lunch before the remaining 24 horses jump. Watch Colleen talk about her clear round and what’s next for Covert Rights in the video interview below:

Our sympathies to the first rider in the ring Emily Lochore, whose horse Hexmaley’s Hayday couldn’t decide whether to stop or go at the upright white gate, and ended up trying to stop at the last minute, crashed through it and slipped and had a soft fall on the grass. Luckily both horse and rider were absolutely fine but it must have been unnerving for Laine Ashker and Anthony Patch who had to follow them in.

Tim Bourke and Luckaun Quality en route to completing the Land Rover Burghley CCI****. Photo by Samantha Clark.

Sam Griffiths conjured a clear round out of the historically rather careless Happy Times and he must be cursing his 20 at the Discovery Valley yesterday as Happy Times is usually such a reliable campaigner in that phase — isn’t that why three day eventing is the ultimate test to try and get the best in all three phases at the one competition!

Paul Tapner jumped clear on Vanir Kamira which will be a nice confidence boost ahead of his round on Kilronana this afternoon. Also clear were Georgie Strang on Cooley Business Time (Lucinda Green’s pick to ride XC yesterday) and local rider Kerry Varley on Bluestone Luke. Ros Canter on the enormous, scopey Allstar B had just one time fault to add to their overnight score — what a super performance at their first Burghley.

Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights jump clear! Photo by Samantha Clark.

Nana Dalton jumped clear on the striking grey Elite Syncopation, and Austin O’Connor was our first clear round of the day on Morning Venture with a smooth, well-judged round to show us all how it can be done.

The final session of show jumping is due to get underway here at 2:25pm GB time 9:25am US eastern and we’ll be willing Donner the Deer and Lynn Symansky on — they’re due to go 9th in the division as they currently lie in 18th place. Do join the Horse & Hound live blog if you can, and if not follow us on Twitter.

Scroll down to see a full show jumping gallery from the first group, and stay tuned for much more from Burghley, including a video interview with Colleen Rutledge once we can get it to upload! Thank you for making Eventing Nation part of your Burghley Experience, and Go Eventing!

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