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The first day of dressage is done and dusted at the Defender Bramham International Horse Trials, tucked in the rolling hills of England’s West Yorkshire countryside – and that means we’ve got our initial line-up of clubhouse leaders, who tomorrow’s competitors will have to try to usurp.
Chief among those is the overnight leader of the feature class, the 31-strong CCI4*-L. Though there’s a diminished field of entries in this class this year, the competition itself doesn’t look to be any less fierce than usual; over the course of today’s seventeen tests, just one combination were awarded enough good marks to break the 30 barrier. That was Ros Canter and the up-and-coming MHS Seventeen, who take the lead on their score of 29.9, putting them 2.3 marks clear of second-placed Selina Milnes and her 2023 CCI4*-S champion Cooley Snapchat on 32.2.
“I’m delighted with MHS Seventeen today,” says Ros of the eleven-year-old gelding, who was produced by Sara Bowe and Nicola Wilson, and whom Ros took the reins of after Nicola’s fall in 2022. He stepped up to CCI4*-S just last season and had his first run at the level at Bramham, and though his was an educational, rather than a competitive, outing, with 40 cross-country jumping penalties and a fair helping of time penalties, too, he came on leaps and bounds from the experience and has logged five top ten finishes out of his six four-star runs since. (The other run? A steady clear for 13th place in a huge field at Thoresby this spring, so hardly a bad mark on his form.)
“He did a personal best at Bicton [where he scored a 25.4 in the CCI4*-S] and has come out and performed to that quality again. He’s a lovely horse who’s growing in confidence all of the time,” says Ros.
Ros will return to the ring in this class tomorrow with her Paris hopeful, European Champion Lordships Graffalo – though whether she’ll run him on Saturday or save him for a run at Luhmühlen, where he’s also entered in the CCI4*-S, remains to be seen.
Rounding out the top three in this class is Tom Jackson and Plot Twist B, who scored a 33.5 to sneak ahead of provisionally fourth-placed Oliver Townend and Crazy du Loir on 33.8 and fifth-placed Allie Knowles and Morswood for the USA on 34. That’s the first of two appearances in the top ten for the Stars and Stripes: Tiana Coudray currently sits seventh with the smart grey D’Artagnan on a score of 35.1.
Just four of the nine partnerships in the under-24 CCI4*-L class took to the ring today, and at this early stage, it’s 25-year-old Izzy White and Icarus who lead the way on a 36.3. This is a CCI4*-L debut for the eleven-year-old Dutch-bred gelding, who’s only ever had one blip on his international cross-country record, and a return to the level for the first time in nearly five years for his rider, who was a top-ten finisher at Ballindenisk in 2019 on her sole previous attempt. She’s followed by five-star partnership Emma Thomas and The Buzz Factor in overnight second on 37.2, while the USA’s Cassie Sanger sits third on a 42.4 with the first of her two riders, Redfield Fyre. Tom Bird rounds out the leaderboard so far in fourth on a 43.5 with the experienced Cowling Hot Gossip.
There’s a much bigger line-up in the CCI4*-S, which is also serving as a key stepping stone on the pathway to Paris for riders from a variety of nations – not least the strong Dutch contingent, who rerouted here after the abandonment of their mandatory outing at Bicton CCI4*-S nearly two weeks ago. But it’s Japan who we see in the top spot heading into day two, thanks to an excellent effort from Ryuzo Kitajima and his new ride, thirteen-year-old Be My Daisy, who he bought from Australian Shane Rose and imported from Down Under over the winter, and with whom he’s already enjoyed two placings at four-star. They posted a career best at any level for the mare today, putting a 24.7 on the board to take a compelling lead at the halfway point of the first phase.
“I’m so pleased, so happy,” says Ryuzo. “I’ve just started riding her this year and I still have to know more about her. I was relaxed and she was relaxed, so it was good. To build our partnership, I started early this year and took her to Portugal so we could get qualified for Paris. She’s a mare, which can be good or bad, but today she was a princess!”
Behind Ryuzo, it’s an Irish double-hander: Joseph Murphy, who delivered Calmaro‘s four-star personal best of 27.3 to sit second, and Maryland five-star winner Austin O’Connor and his up-and-comer Isazsa, who begins her campaign on a 27.8.
Tomorrow will see another day of dressage play out across all three classes. Keep up with the live scoring here, and keep scrolling for some of our favourite posts from across social media at today’s competition – including highlights of today’s BE80 National Championship.
Defender Bramham: Website | Entries and Live Scores | Cross-Country Preview | Live Stream | EN’s Coverage
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