Tim Price and Vitali. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Before the start of Friday’s morning dressage session at Defender Burghley, pockets of the media centre buzzed with chatter about what we might see before the lunch break. Yesterday’s competition, after all, had delivered a not insignificant spate of personal bests and happy surprises – and if the judges continued on their jolly form and carried on rewarding the good work they saw in front of them, what might they do when Burghley record-holders Tim Price and Vitali entered the arena? Could we see something better even than the 18.7 that secured them that accolade in 2023? Would anyone put their money on a 16?
If they had, they might be smarting a bit right now – but although Tim and the whippety Vitali weren’t among the group of PB-earners this morning, they still easily stole the lead from Thursday frontrunners Piggy March and MCS Maverick (25.7) with their 23.1.
“He’s super. We know he’s a class dressage horse, and he has all the ingredients for a really, really hot test,” says Tim. “It’s funny, because sometimes he’s been quite unrideable and scores really well. Sometimes really rideable and scores not so well—and vice versa. So it’s all over the place. It’s a little bit down to what the judges are looking for on the day. But from my point of view: rideability, super. Relaxation, lovely. Just a great partnership on display, and he went through all the motions.”
The clincher for their score? That ease of rideability and togetherness, which isn’t always the case with the talented but quirky fifteen-year-old. The barrier to an even lower score? Primarily, that rested on one near-mistake in the first shoulder-in, which only pulled their marks down as low as a 6.5, but, perhaps, held the judges back from flinging big earners at them for a moment or two thereafter.
That temporary loss of momentum in the movement is one that Tim didn’t expect to experience today – but it’s not a wholly unfamiliar one.
“That first shoulder-in, he was thinking of halting,” he explains. “He’s been doing that a bit at the one-day events, but he doesn’t typically bring that to the bigger shows when you spend quite a bit of time on the centre line in the week. But at the one-days, I’ll come up the centre line and he’s like, ‘are we stopping? Are we stopping?’ I’m like, ‘No, I will tell you when we stop!’ So I came to the shoulder in, and he was sort of going to stop – I’m like, ‘mate, we’ve only just started!’ Anyway, other than that, it was fine and really nice and really fun.”
Tim Price and Vitali. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Elsewhere in the test, there was plenty to like from the extravagant little horse – but, says Tim with a grin, “no course errors is always the first highlight! Turn right, turn left, stop, go – after you’ve got that, it’s just about being able to deliver in the ring what I know he’s capable of, which isn’t always what we get at the end of the day.”
After nearly five years, seven five-stars, and an Olympics together, Tim came into today’s test knowing he couldn’t be complacent, even though the lead-up to his performance had gone smoothly.
“He’s been lovely all week, but at Badminton he was lovely all week and then I went in and he flipped out, and I just had to sit there and be a bit of a passenger,” he says. “But here, he was rideable – he kinked a little and had a look at the atmosphere, and then he came back to me.”
Though Vitali’s CV is stacked with major competitions and successes, including second place here last year, he’s a horse that’s been run relatively sparingly with a focus on his major goals. That’s a system that Tim has honed to suit the gelding, but his attention to detail, and keeping Vitali at his best, extends beyond just his calendar of competitions into each run’s preparation. One thing that’s worked particularly well for the Holsteiner? Cutting right back on his flatwork in the lead-up to a big occasion.
“I just try to have him really fit and healthy in his body,” says Tim. “It’s something that’s often overlooked, but I try to back off them in the last couple of weeks just to freshen their bodies up. When everything’s in there [training-wise] you’ve got to trust in that – then you can hop back on and they feel good and healthy and happy to work. Every horse is different, and we just work away and try to figure out the keys to every individual.”
Tim comes to Burghley having win the world’s foremost CCI4*-S, CHIO Aachen, with Vitali this summer – and though the gelding has signed away several five-star victories in the final phase, his rider is laser-focused on getting it all to come together this week, one stride at a time.
“I’m here to win,” he says. “It’s not by accident that we get ourselves in a position to win every time. You can flip [the notion of heartbreak] on its head and say that we have heartbreak because we’re in a position to win the competition numerous times now, so there are a lot of good things happening. I just need to perfect the final phase, but I think we’ve been coming on strength and strength with that. I don’t get philosophical; I just need a bit of time to recover from the disappointment of the one before, and then when I come back, I’m ready for it. I’m up for it and confident that we’re going to do a good job.”
Tom Crisp and Dassett Rock Star. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
So perhaps we didn’t get the record-breaking score that had been casually prophesied in this morning’s competition – but we did get the privilege of continuing to witness horses and riders who aren’t always first-phase contenders reversing their own fortunes. Foremost among them? Burghley old hand Tom Crisp, who slotted neatly into provisional fourth place behind Piggy March and MCS Maverick and Alex Bragg and Ardeo Premier after delivering a 28.5 with Dassett Rock Star – the eleven-year-old’s five-star personal best by six penalties, and Tom’s own Burghley best after a career full of great runs here.
“We’re very rarely at this end of the leaderboard after dressage,” laughs Tom, who finished ninth here in 2022 with Liberty and Glory. “It feels a bit strange, but I could get used to it!”
Though Dassett Rock Star only has one prior CCI5* test under his belt – a 34.9 at Badminton this spring – his four-star form has shown tantalising glimpses of what could be in this phase. The pair went sub-30 at Blenheim CCI4*-L last year, and in the eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S there the year prior, but otherwise, they’ve explored the full range of the 30s. Today, though, it all fell into place.
“I knew we could do it, and I’ve been working hard at home with Sune Hansen at Spring Hill Dressage,” says Tom. “He’s helped me a lot, just to be a bit more confident and really go for it, and if you make a mistake, you make a mistake. But I think you’re better off setting off thinking you can go for it and make a mistake than just being a bit too careful, which is probably what I’ve been guilty of for a few years. But this horse is very capable of doing a good test, and today it came together. So we’re really, really chuffed.”
As he was warming up for his test, Tom felt that his young horse was performing at his best – but he was quick to temper his own enthusiasm.
“The mistake sometimes is you can just do too much [when they feel good],” he says. “So I just took a walk. I thought, ‘this guy can do it, and I don’t want to make him tired,’ because he’s still a bit big and weak in places. So we just tried it, and today we pulled it off. He was with me the whole way; kept his head in the game. He nailed all of his changes — and it’s so easy just to miss one of them, and that’s a mark gone, isn’t it? So yeah, we’ll take it this time.”
The confidence that Sune has been helping to instill in Tom is the key to the huge difference in those two five-star scores.
“I think at Badminton I was just a bit careful, and he missed a couple of changes. He wasn’t far off, actually. Here I was just a little bit more like, ‘let’s just go for it.’ You only have to get one leg off in a halt and miss a change, and you’re in the 30s straight away. So it’s just having the confidence. So I think rounds like that, and tests like that, they’re all going to help with both mine and the horse’s confidence on the flat, I’m sure.”
Max Warburton and Deerpairc Revelry. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Will Rawlin and Ballycoog Breaker Boy now sit fifth on their score of 28.8, while newcomers to the top ten in Max Warburton and Deerpairc Revelry take sixth at this stage on a smart 29.1 – a return to the first-phase form that saw them smash out an international personal best (at that stage) of 28.9 here last year. While we didn’t get a chance to grab Max for a catch-up – yet! – it’s worth noting that he and the rangy eleven-year-old posted their new international PB of 24.2 en route to winning the Aston-le-Walls CCI4*-S in July, and we expect we’ll see plenty more of them this week.
Katie Magee and Treworra. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Just behind Max in seventh place is, perhaps, the most hotly-tipped Burghley debutant of this year’s field. Katie Magee has had her head down working away quietly – and successfully – on building up her eventing career and string over the last couple of decades, and although she had an entry in at Burghley back in 2019 with another horse, a series of setbacks meant that she wouldn’t make her five-star debut until 2024, when she finished thirteenth at Pau with a then-ten-year-old Treworra. This spring, they headed to Badminton, and went two better for a hugely impressive eleventh place. En route to Burghley, they fulfilled an entry in the British Open Championship Advanced class at Hartpury, which historically serves as an excellent prep run for this event, and handily won the whole thing and that coveted British title.
Now, they find themselves soaking up the sunshine and the thrill of finding themselves in the top ten after their dressage test, which earned them a 29.3 – their first five-star sub-30 and further evidence that their upward trajectory isn’t anywhere close to slowing down.
“It felt amazing!” beams Katie, who trains with fellow Northern good egg Nicola Wilson. “It’s a very special arena to ride into, and the crowd gives it that extra bit of atmosphere in there. I’ve watched Badminton and Burghley every year, from as young as I can remember. When a partnership goes as well as it possibly can, it’s quite emotional. And I think that’s what I wanted — probably more than success – it’s that, when you really have done your very best, and the horse has too, it’s pretty special.”
Like Tom ahead of her, Katie’s success today comes down to a newfound resolve to tackle the test with confidence, rather than just trying to get it done.
“I’m really pleased that I managed not to faff about in the changes,” she laughs. “I’m a little protective at times, and it’s about trying to go for those higher marks and be more positive instead of just surviving the test. That’s a new mentality for me, riding a horse of this caliber.”
That horse, the affable and enormous Wilf, is more than just a competition partner for Katie – he’s part of the family, and has always been someone she’s believed immensely in.
“To be honest, he’s just one of those horses,” she smiles. “He walked onto the yard and I just thought, ‘wow, you’re something!’ It’s all just been time for him. We always knew how smart he was on the flat, but he needed to strengthen, and that can’t be rushed, so it’s been a patience game.
“He’s funny – he’s quite chilled, but he has his odd little spook just to remind you he’s a superstar,” she continues. “He just has a sense of humour, but he’s lovely. He goes out with my old 16-year-old in the field and snoozes most of the day. My son can lead him around. He’s a lovely horse, and he’s beautiful to look at, which helps. He’s a good 17.2, so he’s tall and we’ve just let him strengthen this last year, and it’s made such a difference to him.”
The partnership she’s built with him is her primary focus this week – much more important than the noise and chatter about her recent form or what the leaderboard might look like on Sunday.
“To be honest, I’m just forgetting about it as best I can,” she says. “It is a bit of a different feeling, but at the end of the day, it’s me and Wilf against the course tomorrow, and that’s all that matters, and I hope I can do him justice. He’s amazing, so I wouldn’t want to be on anything else. I said to my husband Kieran, I wouldn’t want to come here if I didn’t have that. This is no place to come if you don’t have an amazing partnership and an amazing horse — and he ticks all the boxes, so I’m a very lucky person.”
Laura Collett and Bling. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Thursday morning’s leaders David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed hold eighth place on their 29.6, and tenth is the domain of Harry Meade and his second of three rides, yesterday afternoon’s Cavalier Crystal (30.5), sandwiching new arrivals Laura Collett and Bling into ninth on 30.2. This is another enormous five-star personal best for the twelve-year-old: in her sole previous test at the level at Badminton this spring, she posted a 37.8.
“I’m absolutely over the moon with her,” says Laura. “She doesn’t find dressage easy — she’s not built to do dressage — but she really tried, and she really stayed with me in there. How much she’s improved in the few months since Badminton is amazing, really. And it’s exciting, because she’s still nowhere near the finished article, so if we can keep going in this way and keep improving, then it’s very exciting for the future.”
Bling was initially bred by her owner, Yvonne Ferguson, to be her husband’s hunter – “she went out as a four-year-old and that was the end of her career,” laughs Laura – but has gone from strength to strength in her second career, despite, or perhaps because of, some educational mistakes along the way.
“She’s been a brilliant horse so far,” says Laura, who took her on as a seven-year-old. “I always thought she had it in there. She’s so scopey, she loves cross country. It’s just been about getting the rideability on her. Any mistakes she’s had cross country have purely been through her just grabbing a bit and thinking she knows best.
“But she’s beginning — touch wood! — to think that maybe I tell her to turn for a reason. She was phenomenal around Badminton. She had one little green moment at the step, which was totally genuine — a green mistake from her. The way she turned around and jumped off it the next time for me was almost more exciting, because she trusted me. It just took her by surprise. It wasn’t anything naughty, she just didn’t quite understand how she got from the top to the bottom. She’s come on so much, and in her two runs since then, she’s been fantastic. Fingers crossed she’s up for it tomorrow!”
We’ll be heading back to the main arena for the final hurrah between the boards at 14.00 local time (9.00 a.m. EST), with New Zealand’s Jesse Campbell and Cooley Lafitte getting us back underway. We’ll be back at the close of play with another jam-packed report, and in the meantime, head over to our Ultimate Guide for plenty more stories from beyond the top ten. Go Eventing!
Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.
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