The Right Side of the Bed (Swamp?): Laura Collett’s Quirky Dacapo Maintains Boekelo Lead After Cross-Country

It’s 5.15 p.m., and we’re moments away from starting the post-cross-country press conference at Military Boekelo – a press conference that’ll be bellowed over the sounds of the two closest beer tents, one of which is playing ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ at top volume, while the other plays ‘You’re the One That I Want’ from Grease at a level that I think the CIA have actually recently adopted as an advanced interrogation technique when dealing with terrorists.

In the media centre, the floor is thrumming. One of the elder statesmen of the press team – a man who once famously asked Bettina Hoy ‘if it might be time for you to be fired’ from her then-role as Dutch chef d’equipe in a press conference here – is chain-smoking inside the tent, and so to add to the sounds of the seventies and the eighties and the debriefing on mud and jumps and all that other stuff that we thought about for many, many hours today, I — a woman with a terrible case of the Boeke-flu — am also quietly preparing to gag up a lung like a cat relieving itself of a half-digested mouse. I’ve made it this far into my career without actively letting loose a throatful of phlegm onto Laura Collett’s riding boots. I’m not sure I can continue on in that vein much longer.

If it all sounds a bit like life is unravelling at the seams, I’d say that’s a fair way to describe the faintly comedic cross-country day that unfolded today for hours, and hours, and hours. No, seriously: what was originally meant to be a seven-hour spread of nearly 100 horses and riders ended up being stretched out over an even long period of time thanks to several holds – for falls and fence repairs, yes, but also because, inexplicably, the power kept going out – and so instead of watching horses go cross-country, we all mostly spent the day watching two probably quite tipsy Dutch guys get their gator so extraordinarily stuck in the knee-deep mud that we’re genuinely not sure it’ll ever come out. But man, did they try: one of them even took off his bowtie to get into the right sort of mindset to continue mostly just sitting there and looking bemused.

Ruh-roh.

Don’t do it, man. It’s not worth it.

I’ve never actually encountered mud at an event like what I saw today. It made that really wet Badminton last year look hot and hard in comparison. In the morning, a man in a digger was hard at work picking up great scoopfuls of the stuff, moving it over by a few feet, and then patting it flat, but if you were silly enough to walk across it (which I was, several times, while carrying several cameras), you still pretty much disappeared into it.

Walking anywhere took about four times longer than it usually would because with every step, you had to excavate yourself, although none of these little details stopped the hoards of young women who’d arrived in black cowboy boots, leather miniskirts, and boxy blazers from doing their (cold? Damp?) thang.

Nothing has ever spoken to me quite the way this fish spoke to me, almost literally, because I’m running enough of a fever that wooden animals could definitely become sentient for me soon.

It’s hard to expect sense outside the ropes at Boekelo, which is more like a festival than any other event in the world, and caters largely to a non-horsey audience who are there for the countless parties unfolding all over the course throughout the day.

But on the course itself, it was a different story: the going was miraculously good, all things considered, because it had been protected as best as it could be in the very damp lead-up to the event, and the one bit of it that had disintegrated a bit too much to be functional – the stretch comprising fences 4, 5, and 6 – was removed from the course before the start of competition.

That did mean, of course, that some things were always going to be a bit harder. Horses and riders would come to the first water at 8ABC much sooner than anticipated, without the first combination at 5AB to help prepare them, and perhaps that did contribute to the fact that we saw eighteen competitors run into trouble there, including the first-phase Dutch National Championships leaders, Olympians Sanne de Jong and Enjoy, or the USA’s Sophia Middlebrook and Prontissimo, who had three run-outs here, or Alexa Gartenberg and Cooley Kildaire, who slipped on the flat between elements.

It was by far the most influential question of the day, followed by the main water at 20ABCD, which proved tricky for eight competitors, and the perennially tough mound question at 23ABCD, which caught out seven.

Laura Collett and Dacapo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

One person who was never going to be worried about course changes, slippery patches, suddenly-much-earlier intense water questions, or any of the normal sort of things that competitors worry about is first-phase leader Laura Collett. That’s because, to put it both honestly and as kindly as is possible, her horse, the fifteen-year-old Holsteiner Dacapo, is just… a Magic 8 Ball of an animal. You give him a shake, and whatever response floats to the surface of the murky blue liquid is the one that’s his truth for the day, even if it makes no sense at all. And so Laura knew that the only thing that would affect his ability to jump a competitive clear and retain his lead today would be whether or not he felt like it. If he did, nothing would be too hard for him – if he didn’t, absolutely nothing at all would be easy.

Fortunately for Laura’s sanity, the former proved true. The pair added just 1.6 time penalties to their first-phase score of 23.7, and will retain their lead going into tomorrow morning’s final horse inspection and the subsequent showjumping finale with a few seconds in hand.

“The kind of things [that might worry other riders] don’t really make a difference with him, because it’s not that he has a problem with anything in particular, like the water coming early wouldn’t make a difference to him,” says Laura. “He’s either going or he’s not. I genuinely didn’t think he would go a yard in the mud, because that would be too much effort for him – but as always, he likes to prove me wrong! I said to the owners last night, ‘enjoy today, because we’re not going to do that tomorrow’. They’re like, ‘oh, but he’s never really been in the mud before’. I was like, ‘there’s a reason for that! Yeah, we don’t go in the mud’. But he was amazing. And the thing with him is you literally know when you leave the start box, he’s either going or he’s not. As soon as he left the start box, he was ears pricked and let’s go, like, ‘I know where I am’.”

There’s something to be said for the kind of mental compartmentalisation that would allow you to get on a horse as black and white – and somehow still as topsy-turvy – as Dacapo is, but over the years, Laura’s figured out that the trick to equilibrium, and a peaceful life, is just taking all the expectations away. At home, Dacapo rarely schools, and is mostly ridden by his best pal, Laura’s head girl Tilly Hughes, and his day-to-day goals are mostly, well, ‘have fun’ and not an awful lot else.

“It’s definitely a love-hate relationship,” laughs Laura. “I don’t really ride him at all at home, because he just drives mad, because you can’t make him do anything. We’d have a lot of arguments. I had a dressage lesson on Wednesday, and it was horrendous, and then he comes out for his test and it’s like butter wouldn’t melt – he’s a little angel and goes and does his test, and it’s all fine. I think it’s because I don’t bother getting worked up about it now, because I’ve learned there is absolutely nothing I can do — like, there’s nothing I can practice at home, there’s nothing I can do to change the outcome. It will be what it will be. So what’s the point in getting stressed? You never know what he’s going to do, and there’s never any rhyme nor reason, and we can’t figure out why he likes certain things – like, he shouldn’t like Aachen, because it’s quite tough on them, but he loves it. He’s a strange character!”

Laura Collett and Dacapo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

He’s also, Laura admits, a very fit character right now.

“He only does the odd bit of schooling, so at home, he’s mostly doing fitness work. He did all the fitness work alongside Hester for Luhmühlen, and then all the fitness work with London 52 leading up to Paris, and then he’s just kept going – so he’s super fit, and really, he has to be super fit, because he doesn’t love to put a huge amount of effort into things!”

But, she continues, “when he’s rideable like that, he’s amazing – he’s so, so good on his lines and lovely to ride.”

This isn’t Laura and Dacapo’s first time leading the way at Boekelo going into the final phase: they did the same in 2022, though had to settle for third place after tipping a rail, and they tipped one, too, last year when finishing sixth here.

“We’ve been in this position before, so we’ll see – but he’s been fantastic so far, so I’m hoping we don’t have a disaster tomorrow,” she says with a grin, before presumably going off to check if Mercury is in retrograde or similar.

Sarah Bullimore and Corimiro. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

First-day leaders Sarah Bullimore and her eight-year-old homebred Corimiro climbed back up from fifth place to overnight second after delivering one of just five clear rounds inside the time today. They came late in the day when, in theory at least, the ground was to be at its worst, but one of today’s great surprises was how well it held up – and how quickly competitors were able to run over it, too.

“He’s an eight-year-old and a CCI4*-L first-timer, so this was a little bit coming into the unknown. And with the state of the ground a couple of days ago, I’d been thinking – ‘is this the best trip for a first time four long, to give him a happy trip?’ But the ground team has done an amazing job, and they’ve absolutely moved heaven and earth. It felt fantastic out there, and he felt absolutely unreal. But then, he’s always been a class horse.”

Getting Corimoro – another son of her former team mount Lilly Corinne, who’s also the dam of her diminutive European bronze medallist Corouet – to Boekelo is something of a breakwater in a stint of rotten luck.

“We’ve had a couple of rubbish years. We had a virus in the in the yard last year, which pretty well wiped us out, so we couldn’t come here last year,” says Sarah, who found Corimiro and Corouet the worst affected by it. “But he’s bounced back. We’ve had our doubters in the past couple of years, but I hope this has put a lot of that to bed.”

Julia Krajewski and Nickel 21. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Julia Krajewski and her Paris Olympian Nickel 21 moved down a spot from second to overnight third after adding 4.4 time penalties – but she won’t be rueing that much after their day very nearly ended early at the Mound at 23ABCD.

“I’m really proud of him, because I basically made no decision [on a stride] to one of the skinnies, and he crawled over it,” she says. “I nearly fell off, but he picked us both up and just went on. I think I’m always learning something new about my horses, and I always knew he was very genuine and honest, but today I’m even more in awe of my horse because he just really, really wants to do the job.”

Their little whoopsy necessitated one of the earlier holds on course, because they managed to yank the top bar of the skinny – a non-deformible fence – from the fence, but what’s a bit of thrills and spills between friends? The pair then cruised confidently home, and while those few time penalties might have cost them the chance at the overnight lead, Julia’s not at all worried about them.

“He’s not a Thoroughbred, but I think he’ll learn in time to be a bit more quick here and there. I couldn’t be more happy with him,” she says.

Britain’s Max Warburton and his Badminton mount Monbeg Exclusive climbed from ninth to fourth after coming home just two seconds over the optimum time, while France’s Benjamin Massie and Figaro Fonroy finished on the same time to move from 14th to fifth.

Hallie Coon and Cute Girl. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The best of the US riders was Hallie Coon, who might have been frustrated to find herself on a 30.4 and in 23rd place after dressage with Cute Girl, with whom she sat second in the first phase last year – but unlike last year, when the still inexperienced Holsteiner had a green run-out on course, this year, they were foot-perfect across the board. That allowed them to deliver the first clear inside the time of the day, and the two years of intense hard work and long, slow bonding was writ large across her face as she celebrated across the finish line. They now sit in sixth place going into tomorrow, and just over a pole off the lead – which is a heartening place to be when you’re sitting on one of the best showjumpers in the field.

Tim Price and Global Quest. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tim Price added two seconds to climb from seventeenth to seventh with Global Quest, a new ride inherited from the late Georgie Campbell – and while the two haven’t been together long, Georgie’s impeccable production of the gelding, who enjoyed a clear round here with her last year, shone through in his ease in adapting to a new rider.

Calvin Böckmann and Altair de la Cense. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Germany’s Calvin Böckmann and his former Young Riders mount Altair de la Cense looked to be going great guns around the course, although they picked up three seconds somewhere along the way – but their very good effort was still enough to move them into eighth place, up from 14th. Ninth is held by Aoife Clark and Sportsfield Freelance, and tenth by Susie Berry and Clever Trick, both of whom came home inside the time, and both of whom contributed to the overall lead held by Team Ireland in the Nations Cup. Just over a rail behind them is the USA in second place, and then, it’s a solid three-and-a-bit rails to the bronze position, held by Team New Zealand.

Susie Berry and Clever Trick. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Speaking of team USA, it was a super day for those riders on the fourth-berth lineup: beyond Hallie’s excellent result, Phillip Dutton and the exciting Possante added six time penalties, moving them from ninth to fourteenth; Cassie Sanger and Redfield Fyre added just 1.6 time penalties to climb from 68th to 21st, and Mary Bess Davis and Imperio Magic added 6.8 time to move from 65th to 27th.

Outside of the team line-up, it was a rather more challenging day: Alexa Gartenberg and Cooley Kildaire had an unlucky slip-up on the flat at fence 8ABC, while Sophia Middleton and Prontissimo were eliminated there for accumulated refusals. Olivia Dutton and Sea of Clouds were going beautifully until they reached the main water at 20ABCD and the gelding stopped suddenly at the log drop question, unseating Olivia, who landed on her feet and was unharmed.

Cosby Green and the young Cooley Seeing Magic had an educational round, picking up 20 penalties at the mound question at 23D and 14.8 time penalties to drop from 19th to 53rd, and after running I’ll Have Another to a clear round with just 3.6 time penalties, which saw him climb from 95th place to 31st, Lauren Nicholson opted to withdraw her second ride, Larcot Z.

Mary Bess Davis and Imperio Magic. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

In all, 72 of the 92 starters completed, and 48 did so with a clear round – though just five managed to add neither jumping nor time penalties.

There are tight margins throughout the individual leaderboard: one rail and change covers the top four, and two rails covers the top eleven, with tightly packed scores continuing on further down the leaderboard and offering plenty of climbing opportunities tomorrow.

Phillip Dutton and Possante. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

We’ll be back bright and early with news from the final horse inspection, set to take place from 8.30 a.m. (7.30 a.m. BST/2.30 a.m. EST). Until then: Go Eventing.

The top ten at the end of an influential cross-country day at Boekelo.

The Nations Cup leaderboard after cross-country.

Military Boekelo Links: Website | Times & Live Scores | Live Stream | EN’s Coverage

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