Tayla Mason (NZL) and Centinnial. Photo by Cealy Tetley.
Badminton’s Glentrool Trophy, awarded to “the horse and rider who have made the greatest improvement on their dressage placing” – in other words, the pair who have shot the furthest up the leaderboard, has a distinguished history. It was given to Badminton in 1992 by top British rider Lorna Clarke when she retired from eventing, in memory of her brilliant cross-country horse Glentrool, who, in 1985, rose 59 places from 72nd after dressage to finish 13th.
This year’s recipient, New Zealand first-timer Tayla Mason, whizzed 50 places up the reckoning with Centennial from 69th after dressage to 19th.
Tayla’s story has captured the public imagination all week. She was the final competitor to make it off the wait-list; Badminton extended the normal Sunday deadline to help her do so, and the call came at 4.30pm on Monday, to the delight of her supporters.
“I had lots of people saying that they were literally checking the wait-list, refreshing morning and night religiously, as I was as well,” says the 31-year-old. “And it was a journey – I was gaining hope and losing hope within four or five hours of the whole lead-in.”
Did she feel that wave of public support?
“Yes – I wasn’t fully aware until we got closer and closer to the event, and then it really started to show,” she says. “It was an amazing feeling to have that support. I hope I made everyone proud!”
Of course she did, none more than her mother Sonya – who bred 14-year-old Centennial on their family farm on the Kapiti coast of the North Island – and co-owner Sue Rutter. They had cancelled their flights from New Zealand, thinking Tayla and “Chase” weren’t going to get into Badminton, but, after a 3am New Zealand time call from Tayla, rebooked and hopped on a plane to England within a few hours. Sonya had competed Chase’s dam, Made You Look, at novice level, and sent her to the New Zealand 1.60m jumping stallion Centavos.
Tayla, who came to England in 2019 to work for Tim and Jonelle Price and now has her own yard with Canada’s Rebecca Howard, says: “Chase came to the UK with me and we’ve done it all from the beginning together. He’s a gentleman with a cheeky side, like an overgrown pet dog, which makes him quite fun.”
The pair weren’t five-star virgins – they finished 26th at Pau last year – but Badminton is a different kettle of fish. They scored 40.2 in the dressage: “He hasn’t seen an atmosphere like this before and was nervous outside the arena, but when I got in there I was stoked, because he came back to me, although we had a couple of costly mistakes.”
They let rip across country, however, coming home clear with only 4.4 time-faults – an impressive debut.
“He was amazing,” said an elated Tayla. “I said at the start of the week that I just wanted to go out and do right by him, and today he showed everyone why he’s so special.
“He’s just so strong, so naturally fit, and so fast. That gives me the bonus of being able to take the harder combinations a bit more carefully early on, knowing I’ve got the confidence — and the horse — to make up the time later.
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“He’s like, ‘How fast do you want to go?’ And honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to the bottom of him. I’m there saying, ‘Whoa, buddy — that’s fast enough! ’m just so proud of him. We’ve done everything together, and to be here at this level with him, it means so much. He’s really amazing.”
Two show jumps down and 1.2 time-faults on Sunday round a very big, square track was perfectly respectable.
“I’m absolutely over the moon. He had a couple down, but actually he did a fantastic round. I was really happy with my ride. And I mean, after what he did yesterday, to come out and do a mostly great round – there’s so much potential there.”
She was once again blown away by the intensity of the atmosphere in Badminton’s main arena.
“It’s next-level, coming into that ring in the afternoon for the jumping. I did Aachen on him a few years ago, which was a big atmosphere, but this is just as big. I don’t know what it is about the arena, but it’s definitely special. I can actually use that, use the crowd, though. Chase is in his element at these events and he’s such a show-off for the crowd, so I try to channel that as much as I can.”
This first Badminton has been valuable experience for this talented horse and rider, and they should now aim for Burghley with increased confidence in their abilities at this level.
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