Jacky Green was once again very kind to send us a full report from Hartpury, which ran cross-country today. I’m glad to hear that the US riders had a great day and it should set us up nicely for Burghley. Jacky also sent us a special treat–videos. As always, thank you so much Jacky and thank you for reading.
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Yet another Kiwi win today as Andrew Nicholson took the CIC***, this time with Mr Cruise Control as he stormed around Hartpury CIC*** to take one of the 2 big classes. Having been deposited on the ground by early runner Armada who showed disdain for the three star track, tried to spit him out at the first water and then truly decked him at the double of corners and then galloped off into the middle distance taking string and would be captors on the way it was a great ride and although Mr Cruise Control twisted over the first of the corners he kept on line to jump the second and then be foot perfect all the way home to win. Henry Tankerville was foot perfect and jumped a copybook round to complete the Nicholson trio.
The most popular winner of the whole weekend was Bill Levett who not only won the CCI** but then backed that up with a proper win in section D CIC*** with One Too Many NJ who was just a couple of seconds over time. Bill has thought a lot of this horse since it was just a baby and has produced it accordingly, second at Saumur CCI*** this Spring and today was the first time he has let off the brake and gone for it. Hats off to Bill, he is a great rider, a great ambassador for the sport and just a genuine all round good guy and everyone was thrilled for him. Look out for this combination at London as for sure they will be there.
Fellow Australian Chris Burton did not fare so well on my personal favourite Under Discussion as it twisted over the first corner and left Chris on a downward trajectory. Sinead Halpin put in a great performance to finish in the top twelve but was surpassed by our Will Faudree who not only finished 5th on Andromaque but put in a great ride on Pawlow as well to complete in the top 15 in that section to boot. Julian Stiller finished in 11th with 17 time penalties on Enjoy Me, and 24th in the other CCI3* division with Chapel Amble.
Will Coleman ran as planned as far as the second water and pulled up which must have been hard as Twizzel looked fantastic.
We did forecast that there would be marching feet and as we arrived this morning Pippa Funnell, Piggy French, and William Fox-Pitt were loading up to go home. The ground was not great, there were inconsistencies in the going that meant if you possibly had a soundness issue or a great young horse you might have withdrawn. However, there was also a good track to be jumped and the Antipodean squad were happy to run around which was good enough for the Americans to follow suit. At the end of the day event horses have to cope with anything at Championship level, be it, hard, soft, muddy, deep and they cannot do that without practice.
Hartpury is best described as a souless place and the organization yet again surpassed itself with no information, dis information and the downright chaotic. Francis Whittington’s horse ran its 2 star, came back to the road crossing to find all stewards gone home, fell over on the road as the traffic would not stop and found no joy when he very vocally complained to organizer Janet Plant. It is a strange event that seems to deem the riders the least important of the attractions right down to the fact that 10th prize in the CIC*** scores a whopping £50. With a minimum entry fee of £300 plus diesel and start fee that really takes the biscuit with over 90 starters in each CIC***.
We roll on to the last warm up event at Highclere followed by the Europeans, Burghley and Blenheim, Blair castle this weekend runs 1*, 2* and 3* and we are on a roll!
