Two-phase CCI4*-L leaders Tom Jackson and Ask For Manchier present with their purple and white ribbons in honour of Georgie Campbell on display. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Sunday morning at the Defender Bramham International Horse Trials is usually a bit of a tense affair – after battling the tough track and stamina-testing terrain of the day before, we generally see horses and riders met with seriously exacting standards by the ground jury. This morning, those exacting standards (exercised, capably, by president Nick Burton and his colleagues, Angela Tucker and Xavier Le Sauce) were no less firmly established, but, likely as a result of yesterday’s very good ground, they barely had to be exercised.
Just one horse was sent to the holding box during the two classes’ inspections, both of which took place under the same ground jury: Aimee Penny’s Freshman HH, who sits 22nd overnight after a steady clear yesterday, was sent for further examination but readily passed upon re-inspection.
Emma Thomas and The Buzz Factor hold the under-25 CCI4*-L lead going into showjumping. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Six horses and riders will showjump for the under-25 CCI4*-L title today, which kicks off at 11.30 a.m. (6.30 a.m. EST) and sees Emma Thomas and The Buzz Factor hold a short lead ahead of the USA’s Cassie Sanger and Fernhill Zoro.
Cassie Sanger and Redfield Fyre. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
There’ll be 26 in it for the senior CCI4*-L class, led by a similarly tight margin by Tom Jackson and level debutant Ask For Manchier, who’s contesting his first long-format in three years this week and, as such, is something of a wild card for today’s final phase.
The USA’s Allie Knowles and Morswood, who sit just outside the top ten going into showjumping. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
The feature CCI4*-L will start at 13.30 local time (8.30 a.m. EST). Both classes will be live-streamed via Horse & Country TV, and we’ll be back later with reports from each.
In the meantime, here’s a look at how those leaderboards are stacking up:
The leaderboard following cross-country in the CCI4*-L for under-25s.
The top ten going into the final day in the main CCI4*-L.
Defender Bramham: Website | Entries and Live Scores | Cross-Country Preview | Live Stream | EN’s Coverage
