Oliver Townend and Swallow Springs take the day one lead at Burghley. Photo by Libby Law.
That’s a wrap on day one at the 2023 Defender Burghley Horse Trials, and while some things stayed the same — those hard-to-please judges, for one thing — one important thing did change: our leader.
Riding in the final session, Oliver Townend knew he was sitting on one of the entry list’s real weapons in this phase in fifteen-year-old Swallow Springs: he and the former Andrew Nicholson ride are now in their second full season together, and in that time, they’ve posted low-to-mid 20s scores in three of their four five-stars. But, of course, that’s never reason enough to be complacent, especially as their last five-star run, at Luhmühlen in June when they rerouted after being pulled up late on course at Badminton, they posted an uncharacteristic 31.7.
Oliver Townend and Swallow Springs. Photo by Libby Law.
Today, though, Swallow Springs was back at his best, skipping neatly and quietly through all four changes and looking thoroughly unruffled by the significance of proceedings. That ultimately resulted in a very good score of 24.2, a 2.7 margin over now second-placed Ros Canter and Pencos Crown Jewel, our morning leaders.
“I thought it was exceptional, really — I think in other five stars with other judges, it might have been a 20 or better,” says Oliver. “I feel that he’s improving in the phase all the time. It’s obviously credit to Andrew Nicholson who did an amazing job producing him, but he’s continuing with the work that we’re giving them and the management to improve right towards the end of his career. Hopefully he’s got a few years left, but he’s not a young horse.”
Oliver doesn’t just hold the overnight lead — he’s also sitting fifth overnight on his first ride, Tregilder, on a score of 30.5 — and yet to come is his third and final ride, the 2017 winner of this event, Ballaghmor Class. This is a horse who’s finished in the top five in every single one of his eight five-star starts, and Oliver’s clear in his goals for tomorrow’s test: “Let’s hope the other old boy can do even better,” he quips.
Jennie Saville and FE Lifestyle. Photo by Libby Law.
The rest of the top five are familiar faces to anyone who followed along with this morning’s competition: with Ros now in second place on their 26.9, Emily King and Valmy Biats shift to third (30), and Tom McEwen and Luna Mist sit level-pegging with Oliver and Tregilder on 30.5.
And then? Another new face, and one who couldn’t contain her delight at finding herself in such a competitive position after her test. Jennie Saville has a serious cross-country machine in Tim and Nina Gardner’s FE Lifestyle, but that’s not always conducive to finding the first phase particularly easy — and that’s been something that Jennie has had to manage throughout his top-level career. While he’s usually a solid mid-30s horse, though, today he stepped up to the plate in a major way, delivering his personal best at the level of 31.1, stepping into overnight sixth place in the process.
“Dressage is usually the hardest phase with ‘Foxy’, and I think he handled it all quite well,” says Jennie with a grin. “I’m trying, man! Shout out to Philip Dutton — he’s helped me so much with this horse on the flat over the last bit, and it’s made all the difference in the world. I worked for him for five years and the first time I came to Burghley was to watch him with TruLuck. Anyway, he’s really helped me a tonne and obviously, Eric and the whole team.”
This focused chunk of time working on Foxy with Phillip began when Jennie needed to keep the horse in work while she was away competing at Rebecca Farm.
“It’s so funny — I was like, ‘Big Phil, man, he can be a horse dancer!’,” laughs Jennie. “He rode him for me while I was away competing in Montana this summer, and I came back and he’s just given me heaps of lessons in just laying down the law with him. If he hadn’t have sat on him… he was like, ‘okay, he’s messing about with you. You’ve got to get serious about this — be tougher’. He’ll always be the boss to me, so when Philip tells me to do something, I’m like, ‘okay!’ But it made a huge difference, him sitting on him and then just getting after me a bit.”
The dream team! Photo by Libby Law.
Jennie also adapted her warm-up, utilising a tactic she learned from Harry Meade and Superstition: instead of riding through a longer warm-up, she got on the gelding just a few minutes before her test, and for the twenty or so minutes prior to that, he was just quietly led around the collecting ring and allowed to pick at grass and settle into his surroundings.
“We did that at Bromont, and it was the first time I think he’s ever been in the top three after the dressage, so we just did it again,” she says.
Now, Jennie’s looking ahead to her first-ever run around Burghley – a course she admits she once thought she’d never fancy having a crack at.
“This is a wicked cross country horse,” she says. “I walked around Burghley, like, ten years ago and I was like, ‘I don’t think I ever need to do that!’ And then I was like, ‘no, this horse, I want to take over’. It’s pretty amazing!”
Matt Heath and the smart Askari. Photo by Libby Law.
Zara Tindall and Class Affair now sit seventh on their morning mark of 31.3, followed by Boyd Martin and his Maryland 5* winner On Cue, who hold eighth on 31.8. In ninth, we welcome Matt Heath and the former Richard Waygood mount Askari to the leaderboard on the strength of their 32.1, which was marred by just one mistake in a change and some very slightly underpowered canter work.
“He’s pretty solid in this phase,” says Matt. “He can be really spooky and the atmosphere can just get the better of him, and then he gets a bit strong through his neck sometimes. But I thought he kept it really well in there. It was a shame I just fluffed one change, and I think that was very expensive. But I’m over the moon with him, really.”
The first change, though, was smart: “It felt like he really waited for it, and it was good,” says Matt. “And then I just lost rhythm; I went quite brave in the extended canter, and then as I brought him back, I just felt like he [wasn’t quite there]. Hindsight’s a wonderful thing; I think probably three or four minutes less [in the warm-up] would have been a bonus.”
But, he says, “If you take [the leading couple of scores] out of it, he’s bang there, and there’s a lot to do on Saturday — you know, it’s Burghley. There’s always a lot to do here. We’ve got to jump right in, but it’s a great start to the show for him and it’s great for him to be here. It’s great for his owner as well. She’s waited a long time to get one to five star and it’s nice to be here.”
Harry Meade and Cavalier Crystal. Photo by Libby Law.
Harry Meade, who was this morning’s trailblazer with Away Cruising (now 20th on a 36) rounds out the top ten with his second of three rides, the five-star debutant Cavalier Crystal. The thirteen-year-old Jack of Diamonds mare, who won the Burghley Young Event Horse five-year-old series here in 2015 with US rider Tiana Coudray aboard, earned a 32.2 for her smart test, which showed enormous potential for her five-star career to come.
“I was really pleased,” says Harry. “This season I’ve felt she’s been really, really on her way. She’s been coming; she’s been getting better and better.”
Part of the mare’s preparation for her debut at the level has been a gradual easing up of her competitive workload after an excellent fifth place finish in the terrain-heavy CCI4*-L at Bramham earlier in the summer.
“I did a load of Intermediates in the spring and took her to Bramham, where she was really good, and I’ve actually done nothing above Intermediate since then to prepare for this because I felt she needed her confidence,” explains Harry. “She had confidence, but she just needed nurturing. She’s pretty experienced at four-star, so this five-star year I just thought, ‘I’ll keep it a little bit easy for her’.”
It’s all boding very well, not just for Harry — who we’ll see again tomorrow afternoon with the very good Tenareze, who was fifth at Luhmühlen this year — but for owner Charlotte Opperman, too.
“Charlotte Opperman has had three horses with me, and I found all three as youngsters,” says Harry. “The first one was called Wild Lone [who was third at Badminton in 2014]. The second one is called Away Cruising — and the third one is Cavalier Crystal, so she’s done pretty well. Two of them have come good as five-star horses — we will see what Cavalier Crystal can do!”
Jessica Phoenix and Wabbit get their Burghley campaign off to a great start. Photo by Libby Law.
We’ve got one Canadian in the mix this week, and already, everyone’s falling in love with her lop-eared ex-racehorse. Jessica Phoenix and the delightful Wabbit have been on this side of the pond for a couple of weeks now, basing with Tim and Jonelle Price at their new Dorset base, and it’s all been with Burghley in the viewfinder — and now, their campaign at the event has begun, with a starting score of 34.9 and overnight fifteenth place.
“I’m incredibly pleased with that,” beams Jessie. “This is his first time at Burghley, his fourth five star, and it was one of his personal bests. I’m really proud of his performance today.”
Wabbit, quite sweetly, maintained his focus throughout the entirety of his test — and the second his job was done, and he was faced with the cheers of the crowd, he became rather starstruck, very nearly refusing to exit the white boards.
“Wabbit is full-on Wabbit,” laughs Jessie. “He’s a one in a million. He’s a full Thoroughbred, and he has energy for days, and he’s the most genuine, heartfelt person you could ever meet — but he’s got a lot going on in his mind! So he’s always trying to connect with me and stay calm and focused. But in the centre, he’s like, ‘where’s cross-country? Let’s get going!’ This is what we’re here for him.”
Jessie cited the enormous support of a number of trainers and riders in helping her to tick this major autumn goal off her list: “Our team technical advisor, Rebecca Howard, is based in England and she has been instrumental through training with us this year,” she explains. “We’ve been able to do online lessons with her leading up to this point, which has been awesome. So a huge thank you to Rebecca, and through Rebecca we were able to go to Tim and Jonelle’s for training for the week and that was awesome. Their new facility is second to none, and they are just the best people. They’re so welcoming and so heartfelt, so I’m really thankful for that opportunity.”
Tomorrow’s second — and final — day of dressage begins at 9.45 a.m. again (4.45 a.m. EST) with British partnership Richard Skelt and Credo first in the ring. Our first North American pair will be Will Faudree and Mama’s Magic Way, at 10.33 a.m. local/5.33 a.m. EST, and then we’ll see British-based American Tiana Coudray and her five-star debutante Cancaras Girl in the ring at 11:10 a.m. local/6:10 a.m. EST. Our final two US riders go back to back in the penultimate session of the day: at 14:25 local/9:25 a.m. EST it’ll be the turn of five-star first-timers Grace Taylor and Game Changer, followed by Boyd Martin and his Tokyo mount Tsetserleg TSF at 14:33 local/9:33 a.m. EST. We’ve also got some first-phase heavy hitters to keep an eye out for — notably, our likely leaders, Tim Price and Vitali, at 13:53 local/8:53 a.m. EST; Tom McEwen and his Tokyo double-medallist Toledo de Kerser at 15:09/10:09 a.m. EST, and 2017 winners Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class at 15:33/10:33 a.m. EST. Until then: Go Eventing!
The top ten at the end of the first day of competition at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials.
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