Alexander Tordoff and Cool Jack. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
When Alexander Tordoff was 15, he wrote in to Pony Magazine. “I am hoping to be an eventer when I grow up,” he wrote, submitting a photo of himself and his horse, Luigi, on cross country along with bit.
Alex grew up right in the area around the famed Burghley House. He’d come to watch Burghley each year, and also rode in Pony Club, which brought him to the grounds with a horse that was…challenging, to say the least, for the first time over a decade ago.
Now, in 2025, he’s brought Cool Jack (a horse purchased for less than £4,000) back here for his Burghley debut, and even with two phases to go, Alex admits: “What a weird week it’s been.”
It hasn’t been a straight road to this debut, not by a long shot. In fact, Alex, shared with me, he almost quit riding at one point altogether because he’d had so much trouble with Cool Jack — a horse very much with a mind of his own.
“When I was about 15 or 16, I couldn’t ride him,” Alex said. “I’d be at home on my own, and every time I got him, he’d walk 10 meters, and he’d throw me on the floor. I remember coming inside saying, ‘Mum, you’ve bought this horse and I can’t ride it. I just keep falling off him.’ Mum basically said, ‘Tough cookie—crack on. I’m not buying you another one.'”
Alex enlisted the help of multiple local professionals, most of whom also couldn’t get a tune out of the lanky gray gelding. “They’d come in, get on him, fall off, and just immediately leave the arena,” Alex chuckled ruefully. It was a discouraging time, and for a rider who held lofty ambitions of one day reaching the top of the sport, the hill to climb looked the size of Mt. Everest.
“I mean, I used to get up, one day I’d lunge, one day I’d ride,” he recalled. “I’d wake up on the days I’d have to ride him, and I’d have a knot in my stomach. On lunging days, I’d think, ‘Oh my God, this is a great day!'”
Manifestation: Exhibit A. And also a great branding opportunity for “Boy Eventer,” which, yes, is still Alex’s Twitter handle.
Then, Alex went out to work for Ros Canter. It was before Ros Canter was THE Ros Canter — “it was more just her and I riding in a field, before she became World Champion.” Here, Alex and Cool Jack finally found their stride together.
“Ros was the one who got him going, and also said, ‘Don’t stress—he’s actually quite good,'” Alex said. “She’s just the most incredible horseman. Just the amount of time and patience it took. Once he trusts you, he’s on your side. He’d throw himself off a cliff, he’d jump the Grand Canyon if you asked him too. And he even wouldn’t be the most scopey horse, but he just tries so hard. She was the one who taught me the most about just giving him opportunities and take it really slow, like really slowly. Eventually, I managed to get on, stay on, and then he was great. He still has those traits, though.”
It wasn’t magic or a secret sauce, working with Ros. It was simply an emphasis on patience, and on taking things back to basics and going as slow as needed to make even the smallest modicum of progress. In all, it represented a turning point. The horse was six when Alex brought him to Ros; he’s now 17, preparing for his second 5* start. And while he’s come on impressively, Alex warns, he’s still not an easy ride. He’s still sharp as a tack.
“It’s been a case of slowly, slowly. I still fall off him all the time!” Alex continued. “Like, even at Burgham, the show before this, I got on him, and within 30 seconds in the stables, I was on the floor. He’s so quick. Some days in the stable, you look at him and you’re about to tack him up, and he just gives you a look, and you know, ‘Oh, I’ll ride you later.’ You can’t even catch him in the stables sometimes. He’s the sharpest horse in the world.”
And so it comes to this: a debut at Burghley, so many years after the dream first germinated, and not without its own stress. Most riders come to Burghley with plenty of anticipatory anxiety about the cross country. For Alex, the stress was front-loaded with the first phase. He’s been eliminated in the dressage before, and with all of the aforementioned sharpness, it’s easy to guess why the pair would have some anxiety associated with this phase.
Alexander Tordoff and Cool Jack. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
“I’ve been more nervous to do that than I will be tomorrow!” a relieved Alex said, talking to the media after scoring a 41.7. “That’s how much he finds it so hard. Like yesterday, when I was riding in here, you couldn’t get a tune out of him. So yeah, we’re not at the front, and obviously it’s frustrating for me—-I like to be competitive.”
As his journey “back” to Burghley comes full circle, Alex is trying to take it all in (while also doing his best to stay seated on his horse). “I’m trying to keep him in one piece in there, and at the same time trying to take it all in. And the sun’s out, so it couldn’t be any better. It’s my first time being here. I’ve grown up here. I’ve come every day of every year since I can remember. So yeah, mixed emotions—more relief.”
Near the stables for the 5* competitors are the jumps Alex used to chuck himself over with Cool Jack back in the day. It’s been a week full of feelings already, and should they get the cross country done tomorrow, the floodgates will likely open. “It’s so weird hacking out past all the little knee-high fences I was trying to throw myself over on him years ago,” Jack chuckled. “And he’s not been back here since. It’s the weirdest thing-—being here in the same field where we camped our lorries, where we did our show jumping. So bizarre. Every morning I wake up and have to remind myself. It’s just been the weirdest week. It’s brilliant though.”
Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.
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