Jock Paget and Clifton Promise at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry.
With just three riders left to go in the dressage at Burghley, this year’s Badminton winners Jock Paget and Clifton Promise set the benchmark with a fluid, relaxed test to score an outstanding 36.7 to take the overnight lead going into cross country tomorrow. As British Grand Prix dressage rider Anna Ross Davies noted in the Horse & Hound Live Blog, Jock “produced highlights as well as a good quality test,” which ultimately set him apart today from legends William Fox-Pitt and Andrew Nicholson, who had chances to take the lead with top mounts Parklane Hawk and Nereo. Andrew and William had to settle for third and fourth, respectively, with scores of 41.3 and 41.5.
Based on comments from the Horse & Hound live blog, riders typically gave away marks in the flying changes, the second of which had to be performed on the diagonal. Many riders shifted their horses to change on the centerline, which created a glaring error, as you’ll see when you watch some of the tests on Burghley TV. The end of the test required three more flying changes on a serpentine, leaving plenty of room for error and deductions from not only the marks for the movements, but in the submission marks as well. Riders who scored higher executed all four flying changes at the correct angle and without any late movements behind.
Buck Davidson and Park Trader, our sole American pair competing at Burghley, seemed to start out well and had just a few bobbles toward the end of the test. Kobe bucked and trotted in the second change and, as Anna put it, was a bit grumpy for the final two changes. They scored 57.8 to sit in equal 49th place. This is just Kobe’s second four-star — he made his debut at Rolex this year, where they finished 22nd — and at just 11 years old, he shows a lot of promise for the future. Click here to view Buck’s test of Burghley TV. I also thought it was rather heartwarming that Buck received so many congratulatory shoutouts in the Horse & Hound live blog for his recent engagement to Andrea Leatherman.
Crowd favorites Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz performed one of the more memorable tests of the day, with the horse showing lovely, relaxed movement to earn 43.3 for ninth place. Nicola and Dodi have had a bit of a rough year, falling apart in the show jumping at Badminton and crashing in the first water complex at Luhmuhlen, and they look to be in top form so far. Poor Bettina Hoy did not have the same luck with Lanfranco TSF, who has struggled to keep his cool in the dressage lately. As the first test back after the lunch break, they gave everyone quite a scare when the horse visibly never settled and reared during the reinback. Bettina retired Lanfranco TSF soon after the rearing episode — definitely something you don’t see happen very often.
With Jock showing once again that he’s quickly becoming a master in the dressage, he’s emerged as a star who has a real chance of challenging Michael Jung, William Fox-Pitt and Andrew Nicholson on an international level, and certainly at the World Equestrian Games this year. While Burghley is certainly not a dressage show, we know Promise is capable of jumping cleanly around a four-star course, as proven by how capably he handled Badminton earlier this year. Tomorrow will be a very exciting day of cross country, indeed. Be sure to join us back tomorrow in the Horse & Hound live blog, which will be bringing us live commentary on all the cross country action.
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Click here to watch Jock Paget and Clifton Promise
