Oliver Townend and Armada lie 3rd after dressage phase of Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials. Photo by Nico Morgan.
As always Friday afternoon saw plenty of movement at the business end of the leaderboard but no-one could topple Andrew Nicholson and Nereo from the very top (All scores are here).
Oliver Townend got the afternoon sessions started after lunch and with a lovely test on Armada they broke the 40 barrier and for a little while we had full brothers Nereo and Armada in the one and two spots. Oliver was very happy with his test but nonetheless surprised still to be lying second at the end of the day, whereas Andrew revealed that he had a feeling that if anything was going to beat him and Nereo it wouldn’t be by much at all.
William Fox-PItt and Chilli Morning, in 2nd place before cross country at Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials despite several errors in their dressage test Friday. Photo by Nico Morgan.
The two brothers lasted at the top until William Fox-Pitt’s test on Chilli Morning, which he later admitted he didn’t think was one of his best.
Despite being “half asleep” since they arrived here William shrugged that Chilli had chosen the wrong time to wake up – his test was almost fabulous but spoilt by tension in the walk and he was late behind on both of the first changes which William attributed maybe to some lingering nerves left over from WEG, “That was very frustrating, you can’t afford to do that here and he’s a horse who’s very, very solid on his changes, it’s one of those things, they’re not machines and he did some lovely work overall, he’s feeling fantastic, it just wasn’t faultless which it needs to be.”
This is Chilli Morning’s Badminton debut despite being 15 years old — remind me to ask the Eventing Consultant —i f we have more older horses (and riders) this year than ever before?
Jock Paget brought Clifton Lush back after an 18 month layoff after injury and was tickled pink with his test, “When he gets in the arena he grows a couple of inches and things that he can’t do out there, all of sudden he can do in there, he’s pretty special like that, it’s pretty cool for him to go in and try that hard and see that he remembers his job. He’s one of my all-time favourites, he’s only a little fella but he tries harder than all the rest.”
Coming back after an 18 month layoff due to injury, Clifton Lush rises to the occasion to lie 5th overnight Friday at Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials. Photo by Nico Morgan.
Jock’s plan is to listen to Lush out on course Saturday, “if I feel that he’s struggling for air or if I feel that he’s a bit tired in his body then I’ll give him the breaks he needs, I’ll be keeping in mind that it’s his first proper run back.” Jock had some sage advice for any of those Badminton first-timers, “Try not to get too caught up in all of it, the dressage arena is the same size we always ride in and we’ve got the same rules on the cross country and show jumping — just go and do what you do.”
Paul Tapner held up the side for the Aussies, sneaking into the top ten with a nice test on Indian Mill for 7th place overnight. All scores are here, although it always seems that they seem irrelevant as of about 8am Saturday morning! The top twenty are all within 10 penalties, and not even 30 penalties separate the entire field.
Cross country starts at 11:30 a.m. and as our superstar photographer Nico Morgan pointed out, the downside to the draw this weekend is that if Andrew Nicholson and Nereo do indeed go clear within the time (“I’m very very focused on what I’ve got to do here; last year I had a very good chance with Nereo and I made a very stupid mistake, I’ve had 12 months to think on that, I know what to do and I’ve got a very good horse so that helps and makes it much easier”) then we’ll know by lunchtime — Andrew and Nereo are due to set off at 12:14 GB time — the outcome of the day already.
For now though, hoping that the riders can get a decent night’s sleep and that the weather cooperates tomorrow. We’ll be back bringing you live tweets and live stream, thank you for visiting and Go Badminton!
#MMBHT: Website, Order of Go, Live Scores, Schedule, Course Preview, FEI TV, EN’s Coverage, Twitter, @samanthalclark
