Piggy March and MCS Maverick. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
[To catch up on this morning’s action, head to our full lunch break report here.]
Nobody can ever say that Piggy March swept into the Thursday dressage lead having simply hopped on the product of somebody else’s hard work: the quirky MCS Maverick, who won Bramham in 2023 with Pippa Funnell aboard, is a unique sort of character who requires an outsized amount of mental management to stop his clever brain from turning an eventing week into a series of complicated conspiracy theories delineated with bits of red string. That’s a commitment that Piggy has happily devoted countless hours to since the horse joined her stable.
Well, just about nobody would ever say that – Piggy herself is, of course, the notable exception.
“He’s a beautiful horse, and he’s got it all there. He’s had the best training in the world; he’s come from Mrs. Funnell, so I haven’t got any excuses,” she says.
There were no excuses needed today: the pair posted a 25.7 after delivering the standout test of the day, earning them the lead by a margin of nearly three penalties.
“The big thing with this horse is getting his brain,” says Piggy, who made her debut with ‘Eric’ earlier this year, finishing eighth in the CCI4*-S at Bramham, their first FEI event together. All the way through, Piggy’s stayed in close contact with her great friend Pippa, unpacking how best to tackle the constant busyness that the horse craves without overdoing it.
“That’s just what the two days have been here — riding, lunging, riding, lunging. He’s not the finished article yet, and his body isn’t really as strong as where I’d like it to be — it’s still going to develop a lot over the next couple of years. You can’t work him too hard, otherwise he’ll get sore and fragile in his body. So it’s a bit of work, a bit of loose lunging, grazing, seeing people. That was brilliant for him. His mind is going to be little bits and pieces, and of course, it’s going to get better. But I’d say for our early stages of us being together, and in an atmosphere like that, I’ll take it all day long. I don’t want another go to go in and try to do it any better!”
Piggy March and MCS Maverick. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
For Piggy, even just being back at Burghley is something special. This week is her first appearance here – young horse classes notwithstanding – since 2022, when she won with the now-retired Vanir Kamira. Since then, she’s been in something of a rebuilding process for the top levels – and now, she’s got one for the big tracks and one for the championships in the excellent Halo, who will head to the European Championships later this month.
“Burghley is really special, and it’s been a buzz all summer thinking, ‘I’ve got a horse I can go back to Burghley on,’” she says with a smile. “That buzz disappeared with absolute sick butterflies the last three days, though! But I think for everyone who events and likes riding at the top of the sport, it’s the pinnacle of it. I think it’s the ultimate test of horse and rider for me personally, because the terrain is demanding, so it takes a lot of brain work for riders as well.”
Would it be beyond the realm of possibility to imagine that this very new partnership could win the whole thing this week? Not at all – but for Piggy, the focus and the priority is wholly on finishing the week with a happy, healthy horse and an even stronger understanding in one another, and if that goes hand in hand with a placing, then so much the merrier.
“I’ve got a lot to figure out with my guy on Saturday, with a very new relationship,” she says. “I’ll be very interested in learning an awful lot on the way round. Walking the course, I’ve been like, ‘I wonder what he’s going to do — what he’ll think of this or that.’ It’s very different from coming here with Vanir Kamira, who was my last horse here, that I sort of knew her inside out and knew how she’d think about things. With him, I’ve got a lot to learn myself, personally, out there. But I’m going to have a go. I just want him to finish; I’d love him to have a good experience this week. He’s only 12, and there’s lots to come with him, with his body, physically. I think I’d just love for him to have a happy week. And we’ve got a future to build.”
Alex Bragg and Ardeo Premier. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
A cursory glance at Alex Bragg’s competition record with Ardeo Premier would give you the overall impression of a very good cross-country horse – one whose grit and game nature gives him the chance to climb after a less competitive first phase. At five-star, that’s been a 35.5, a 39.7, a 35.2 – and, today, a 28.4 and overnight second place.
“You can never say I’m not full of surprises,” he quips. “I’m thrilled with that. Eddie, as we know him, can be a little bit anxious and goes within himself sometimes. He doesn’t express himself by rearing, bucking, and all that. He just sort of tries to hide.”
That, he says, has been the focal point of their training for this phase.
“I’m trying to initiate that belief in him and trust him — just ride him forward and say, ‘be brave. I’m feeling brave, so you can be brave too!’ I feel more comfortable doing that when I’m in a jumping arena and cross country. But in the dressage, it’s never been maybe my strongest phase, especially when I started, and I guess I’ve got to get over that a little bit.
“I think today I had to lead, and I did, and he was really, really honest and followed me,” he continues. “His highlight, the thing he’s good at, is the canter, and so today I really went for it. He’s not a big-trotting horse, so we just tried to be correct. In those 8-metre circles, if you’re not accurate, these judges — especially at the side, in the corner — can see everything, and they just hammer you for it. So I tried to be accurate there.”
As the test progressed, Alex got the feeling he was sitting on something special – but, he says, “you’re never brave enough to look up at the screen! But you’re kind of tempted to be like, ‘how am I getting on?’ You don’t want to lose concentration – it’s the atmosphere, and the adrenaline, and your own nerves that you’re dealing with. So to actually execute a test like that… I’m really, really pleased.”
The final result is something that he’s been quietly confident would come at some point.
Alex Bragg celebrates a seriously good day in the office. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
“I’ve always believed he was capable of a 70% test. He can do everything very, very accurately. It’s the same in his jumping — he’s technically very accurate, very good. He doesn’t have heaps and heaps of talent and capability, but the trainability of him and his heart makes up for that. So yes, I did believe he could do that. I think I always knew where his strengths and weaknesses are, and I think knowing that helps you to get the marks where you can, and to not lose the marks.”
Now, he’s looking forward to keeping up the good fight – this time, from a front-loaded position.
“The mark is really great,” he says. “I always seem to be chasing the leaderboard; my jumping is probably my strength, and I probably find jump horses more than I look for those classic dressage types, which probably shines through in that.”
Even more than that, though, he’s brimming with pride in what the twelve-year-old gelding has already accomplished this week.
“Obviously, the score is so important, but for me, inside the performance, how much the horse really tried — and I think he tried really, really hard. It’s him, not me, it’s him. He did a great job. I mean, he exceeded my expectations.”
Will Rawlin and Ballycoog Breaker Boy. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
The fourth time was the charm for Will Rawlin and Ballycoog Breaker Boy, who set their five-star personal best of 28.8 to sit third overnight – their first time going sub-30 after two Badmintons and last year’s Burghley.
“I’m really, really chuffed with that,” says Will. “We’ve worked very hard over the last year, since we were at Burghley last year, and even in the last couple of weeks – it’s just all coming into place. Leading up [to this week] I haven’t done very long training sessions, because I’ve done what I’ve needed to, and he’s felt so good, and I don’t see any point making the horse do any more than that.”
At thirteen, Ballycoog Breaker Boy – also called William at home – is stepping into his prime, but even he had a starstruck moment as he headed into the ring today.
“He definitely went in there and sort of lit up, and I was a bit like, ‘oh God!’ He’s not generally a horse that would get stage fright, but it was definitely the most atmospheric arena I’ve been in, having done Badminton twice and been here last year as well – so it was interesting. But he was with me all the way through. I was just kicking myself because his changes have been so spot on this year, and then I just didn’t quite execute them like we could. But it can’t be perfect all the time.”
The pair’s sterling effort catapulted them to the top of the leaderboard, though their tenure there was short-lived – they were followed into the arena by Piggy and Eric, who swiftly took over. But, laughs Will, “a few years ago [at Bicton’s pop-up CCI5*] I took the dressage lead on another horse, and then was immediately followed and beaten by Piggy – but she’s not a bad person to find yourself behind!”
That proliferation of competitive scores means that our morning leaders, David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed, find themselves in overnight fourth position on their 29.6, just ahead of another new entry into the top ten.
Harry Meade and Cavalier Crystal. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
That came from Harry Meade on his second ride of the day, Crystal Cavalier, with whom he finished fourth at Badminton this spring. On that occasion, we saw them start – and finish – on a score of 33.8, and last year, they were third here (for the second time) when starting – and again, finishing – on a 31.3.
Today, though, they confidently put their best-ever five-star dressage score on the board: a smart 30.5 that sees them take fifth at the halfway point of this phase.
“I’m thrilled with her,” Harry says. “She’s a really game horse. She’s a proper five-star contender: she finds jumping pretty easy, but she’s always been quite affected by crowds and things, and today I was delighted with her. Sometimes, if you try too hard on her, she begins to go a little bit sour, almost, so it was very much just about keeping her sweet and keeping her enjoying it.”
Today, he says, “she felt very happy in there. It was a really lovely, soft test, and it was very much a clear-round test, but also the way of going was soft and open, and that allowed the freedom, rather than going a little bit tight.”
Though Harry’s lead-up hasn’t been totally conventional – he had to spend a stint out of the saddle after sustaining injuries falling off a bicycle earlier this season – he and his horses alike have been feeling better and better in their lead-up to this week.
“I’ve felt she’s been in a really sweet place the last few weeks, and then that’s been maintained since we got here,” he says. That ended up being something of a saving grace: they headed into the arena as the crowd burst into cheers for new leaders Piggy and Eric, but rather than freezing up against the sudden outpouring of atmosphere, the fifteen-year-old stayed well in the zone.
“I probably shouldn’t have gone in so early,” laughs Harry. “But she’s always been one who just, when you hold, she stares into the distance, and actually, today I had a genuine softness in her and it was lovely.”
Caroline Powell and High Time V. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Ireland’s Joseph Murphy, second this morning with Belline Fighting Spirit on 30.9, now hold sixth place overnight, while former Burghley champion Caroline Powell steps into seventh place with the thirteen-year-old High Time on a 31.1.
That score represents a serious upward trajectory for the gelding this season: at Badminton, we saw the pair post a 36.6, and in 2024, they went as high as 39.2 at four-star.
“[The partnership has developed] quickly,” says Caroline. “He’s changed a lot from Badminton. The first time I rode him, I was like ‘oh – is there something wrong with him?’ But I think he just grew up. [Dressage coach] Tracie Robinson has worked really, really hard on him, and it’s lovely, because he’s coming back to me now. It’s nice when they do that.
“I thought he would heat up a little bit [in the ring], but he was great. I wanted to just do as good as we can. We can do very, very good work, and we can do some very, very sparky work. So what he did there today, I’m pretty chuffed with.”
Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza II. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
British-based Frenchman Gaspard Maksud finished sixth here last year with the twelve-year-old Zaragoza, “but we were five marks better in the dressage,” he laughs. And yes, sure: on that occasion, it was a 26.8 to get their week started, and today’s test saw them put up a still-very-respectable 31.8, but it’s all relative, isn’t it? Especially when you consider that the British-bred mare, who’s also previously finished sixth at the 2022 World Championships, has been lightly run since Badminton, and frankly, she’s been delighted to be back out.
“She did a three-star ten days ago, and that’s about what she’s done – and she was feeling very, very fresh there, but she’s been very good here — really listening,” says Gaspard, who’ll be delighted not to have repeated the sparkly 39.7 they scored in that prep test.
“Maybe we could ask a little bit more in the test [today], but I think she did a nice test, no really big mistakes or anything. I was quite happy with her. She was very relaxed, and yes, I probably want to be in the 20s, but she hasn’t done much, to be fair. She’s done pretty much nothing. But she came here, she knows why she’s here, and she enjoys it. She actually kept it all together in the test, and she was very focused on me, so there’s lots of positives.”
Holly Richarson and Ballyneety Silver Service. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
The pair will close out day one in eighth place, while Great Britain’s Holly Richardson and Ballyneety Silver Service are our final new additions to the top ten, moving into ninth on a 32.4 – the same score as US representatives Grace Taylor and Game Changer, who delivered their test in this morning’s session.
“His medium trot is his strength,” says Holly of her ten-year-old level debutant. “So it was really good to pull off those mediums and the extended work, and his walk, as well, is amazing. So it was good that he stayed calm enough to actually produce a good walk.”
Though Holly herself has a couple of Burghleys behind her, a first five-star for a horse is always a fact-finding mission, and today was no exception.
“He hasn’t done a lot of these huge [competitions], so I wouldn’t really know [if he gets hot]. I didn’t really know how much to work on ahead of it. But actually, he stayed really level. He’s quite spooky, and he went around the outside spooking. I thought, ‘Oh no, here we go!’ But he actually really stayed with me.”
We’ll return to the main arena tomorrow morning at 10.00 a.m. local time (5.00 a.m. EST) with fan favourites Alice Casburn and Topspin first up to bat – and some serious heavy-hitters sprinkled throughout the day, including the return of Aachen winners Tim Price and Vitali, who hold the Burghley dressage record (a nice and normal 18.7, in case you missed that one) and former winners Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo among them. Until then: Go Eventing!
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