Tom McEwen and The Fieldmaster lead the Agria Blenheim Palace CCI4*-L after cross country. Photo by Libby Law Photography.
British Olympic and world gold medallist Tom McEwen enjoyed a superb day at the Agria Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials and is now dominating the leaderboard in both competitions. He now holds first and second places in the Agria CCI4*-L after cross-country and leads the GFS Saddles 8 & 9 Year-old CCI4*-S class after the show jumping phase.
Packed crowds enjoyed a thrilling day of cross-country action against the splendid backdrop of the UNESCO World Heritage site, Blenheim Palace. The elusive optimum time of 10 minutes 8 seconds, achieved by only one rider, played an influential part and considerably reshuffled the scoreboard, making for an exciting competition.
Tom is now leading the Agria CCI4*-L after two of the fastest rounds, aboard Jo and James Lambert and Penny Barker’s The Fieldmaster, a new ride this season, and ‘the elder statesman’, Alison Swinburn and John and Chloe Perry’s 17-year-old Brookfield Quality, the two horses separated by a mere 0.1 of a penalty.
The Fieldmaster, one of an elite handful of nine-year-old horses in the CCI4*-L, was produced by amateur jockey and eventer Tom Strawson and completed the CCI4*-S at Blenheim last year with his previous rider. “I spotted him here last year and liked the look of him,” said Tom. “He travelled and jumped so well throughout today and when we kicked for home he really picked up. I couldn’t be happier with him. He’s a phenomenal horse.”
Tom does not have a show jumping fence in hand tomorrow over his Tokyo Olympics teammate, third-placed Oliver Townend, who shot up 29 places on the leaderboard as the only rider of the day to achieve the optimum time, on new ride Sommersby. Oliver, who has been concentrating on producing young horses this season, was competing in only his third international competition with Sommersby, a 14-year-old German-bred gelding previously competed by American rider Jenny Caras.
New Zealander Jesse Campbell has dropped two places to fourth on Speedwell with 8.4 time penalties. An elated Sam Ecroyd also had a good day and is now in fifth and sixth places on Bloomfield Manuscript and Jackpot. Zara Tindall, who won the European title at Blenheim 21-years-ago, had a brilliant ride on the grey Classicals Euro Star and has risen 12 places to seventh.
Young rider Jack Pinkney, 27th after dressage, has sprung into contention on Monbeg Stone Town (eighth), Gemma Stevens is now ninth on Chilli’s Jester and New Zealander Tayla Mason, who set an early target with a fast round (5.2 penalties), has risen 41 places to 10th.
The dressage leader, 22-year-old Australian Oliver Barrett, is now in 11th place with 19.2 time penalties on Sandhills Briar, his clear round helping extend the Stars & Stripes’ lead to 8-4 over the UK-based Rising Lions in the inaugural Blenheim Challenge. Isabelle Cook, who is now in 12th place on Cymoon ‘F’ Z, was the only Rising Lion to score points in the cross-country phase.
The brand-new international competition taking place alongside the Agria CCI4*-L, is formatted like the Ryder Cup, sees daily head-to-head competitions between the British Rising Lions team and an international Stars and Stripes team, with the rider achieving the best result from each phase earning a point for their team.
The Agria CCI4*-L final horse inspection, sponsored by British Horse Feeds, takes place at 8am BST / 3am EST on Sunday, followed by showjumping starting with the lower placed horses at 11am BST / 6am EST. The GFS Saddles 8 & 9-Year-Old CCI4*-S cross-country starts at 9.30am BST / 4:30 am EST on Sunday.
Agria Blenheim Palace International (UK): [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Timing & Scoring] [Blenheim Challenge Scoring] [H&C+ Live Stream]
