Five time Burghley champion William Fox-Pitt is poised to claim the title once again after taking the lead with Parklane Hawk in today’s cross-country action at Burghley. Parklane Hawk is competing in his first four star, but the ex-racehorse ate up the ground and finished with a double-clear. The dressage leader Simone Deitermann of Germany fell from Free Easy NRW at Capability’s Cutting. Fortunately both horse and rider are fine.
Andrew Nicholson moved up to second by adding nothing to Avebury’s dressage score. Last year’s Burghley champions, Caroline Powell and Lenamore jumped to third with the same score as Andrew but a less optimum time. Kings Temptress didn’t make things easy for Mary King, but the veteran rode through all challenges and just dropped one place to 4th with 1.2 time. I’m not sure there is a better rider than Mary at pulling things together and fighting through when a ride isn’t going well.
Replays of all the cross-country rides are being uploaded to Burghley.tv currently, as well as Burghley’s Youtube channel.
William, Andrew, and Mary all have two horses each in the top 10. That is an indescribable level of dominance. They collectively added 9.6 time penalties to their dressage scores. Great Britain has 5 riders in the top 10, New Zealand 3, Ireland has Elizabeth Power in the top 10, and Austrialia has Sam Griffiths.
10 riders finished with double-clears, which is a couple more than I was expecting. 5 riders finished with a stop. 11 fell or were eliminated and 9 retired. The issues were fairly evenly spread throughout the course.
Eight pairs from North America started out on the cross-country today. That many rides mixed with a tough Burghley course meant that there were sure to be mixed results and we saw the full range of highs and lows today with 4 clear rides, 2 stops, and 2 falls for North America.
Michael Pollard and Icarus had a big fall at the new water complex at the end of the course. Both Michael and Icarus were up after the fall, but Michael has a broken wrist and Icarus is a bit banged up. I spoke with Michael who said that Icarus was feeling tired and flat at the end but he felt Icarus get a bit of a second wind as he turned for home. The long Burghley course took its toll on a number of horses today.
Kyle Carter and Madison Park took a tumble at fence 12, the Waterloo Logs table. They were having a fantastic round up until that point and Parker lost a shoe right before the fence, causing him to slip into it and pop Kyle off. I spoke with Kyle’s wife Jenn briefly who said that Kyle and Parker are both fine and will look to head to Blenheim next weekend since the fall was so early on the course. Kyle was so determined to get around Burghley, I hate to see their weekend come to an early end.
On the other side of the spectrum, Boyd Martin and Sinead Halpin had incredible rides. Boyd and Neville finished with a double-clear and Sinead and Manoir De Carneville added just 4.8 time penalties to their dressage score. So far this year everything has seemingly gone right for Sinead and wrong for Boyd. For Sinead, today is an affirmation of her performance at Rolex and a true welcome to the top of eventing. For Boyd, today is a turning point and a much needed great day for Boyd and his entire team. Boyd and Sinead go into the show jumping in 11th and 12th respectively.
Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz jumped way up the placings by finishing with just 9.2 time penalties. Jessie Phoenix and the superb jumping Exponential crossed the finish line with 16.8 time, the best performance of the day for Team Canada. That is one of the XC replays I can’t wait to watch.
Julian Stiller and Chapel Amble picked up 20 penalties with a circle in the Trout Hatchery, but Jules finished Burghley well. Hawley Bennett-Awad and Gin & Juice added 20 penalties at the Maltings Branch combination. It’s easy to get caught up looking at where riders are on the scoreboard, but I always try to remember that just finishing a course like Burghley is a remarkable achievement.
Burghley XC Results:
1. William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk +0 39.7
2. Andrew Nicholson and Avebury +0 42.8
3. Caroline Powell and Lenamore +0 42.8
4. Mary King and Kings Temptress +1.2 43.4
5. Andrew Nicholson and Nereo +2.8 45.1
6. Elizabeth Power and Kilpatrick River +2.4 45.7
7. Mary King and Apache Sauce +2.0 46.8
8. Sam Griffiths and Happy Times +1.6 47.1
9. William Fox-Pitt and Neuf Des Coeurs +3.6 49.1
…
11. Boyd Martin and Neville Bardos (USA) +0 49.7
12. Sinead Halpin and Manoir De Carneville (USA) +4.8 50.8
40. Colleen Rutledge and Shiraz (USA) +9.2 72.9
44. Jessica Phoenix and Exponential (CAN) +16.8 76.3
51. Julian Stiller and Chapel Amble (USA) +34.4 86.4
53. Hawley Bennett-Awad and Gin & Juice (CAN) +36.4 94.9
Michael Pollard and Icarus (USA) MR
Kyle Carter and Madison Park (CAN) RF
The youngest rider in the field, 20 year old Tom McKewen from Great Britain, had a wonderful trip around the course and finished clear and inside the time. He jumped into 10th with Dry Old Party. [Audio Interview with Tom]
The oldest horse at Burghley is Commanche, who is just 2 years younger than Tom. Commanche has competed at Burghley a staggering 9 times–more than most riders can ever hope to in their lifetime. Commanche and James Robinson completed the course with 7.6 time penalties today.
The other 5 time Burghley winner, Mark Todd, was slightly disappointed with 2.0 time penalties on Major Milestone and they are in 22nd going into the show jumping. [Mark Todd Interview]
Stay tuned for much more and go eventing.
