Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam. Photo by Nico Morgan.
Had you asked anybody Friday evening if they expected Michael Jung to hold the lead after cross country, chances are most people would have answered in the affirmative, but perhaps we expected him to be sitting in that position on his dressage leader and Rolex Kentucky winner, Fischerrocana FST.
Instead, after an almost freak stumble in the water just before the Lion Bridge boat, it was Olympic and WEG champion La Biosthetique Sam who rose to the occasion, jumping clear with just 0.8 of a time penalty and so moving up from 5th place into the lead.
As predicted the course caused plenty of trouble and fast clear rounds guaranteed a massive move up the leaderboard. Very few of the rides looked foot perfect and even the majority of those who jumped clear had to fight for it and you could see that.
Lynn Symansky and Donner. Photo by Nico Morgan.
Without being biased Lynn Symansky’s round on Donner was one of the nicest to watch, also impressive was our pathfinder Oliver Townend on his first horse Dromgurrihy Blue who moved up from 30th to 10th.
Chris Burton was lovely to watch on both his rides, and of course lying in third Jonelle Price is inimitable. By the end of the day Bill Levett had probably had time to watch quite a few rounds and was able to ride Improvise accordingly — aggressive and effective to move up to 6th place from 19th with just 4.8 time.
Conversely Tina Cook and Mark Todd sat like glue when most other people would have hit the deck, remained unruffled and executed their plans to come home with just a handful of time faults each and move into the top ten overnight.
Michael Jung limped into the media centre with a small scrape on his face and joked that after his aborted round on Fischerrocana he got back to the stables and his brother told him the pressure was now really on as Sam had just moved up into the top 6!
Michael was in great spirits despite his fall, probably because he still leads the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, and he told us he had a fantastic ride on Sam, “I know that he’s a really strong horse in the cross country, I know him from many competitions, many championships, he’s a very very strong horse. I was a little bit slow in the beginning, a little bit slow up the long hill to fence number 13 (Winner’s Avenue to Cottesmore Leap) but after this I wanted to catch the time and he was so much fighting and jumping, he was very, very good, he gave me a really good feeling.”
Jonelle Price and Classic Moet. Photo by Nico Morgan.
Michael couldn’t really explain exactly what happened under the Lion Bridge with the mare, but he did stress that she didn’t trip forwards and go down on her knees, rather she fell sideways into the water, “The first part with Fischerrocana was very quick — I think after 40 seconds it was finished! It was a very bad mistake — every jump up to there was good, just three (!) and then I went into the water and I thought it was good, and I was very slow, and then I was catching a good rhythm to the next fence and then she was falling into the water, very stupid.”
Tim Price moved into the reserve slot with a fast round on Ringwood Sky Boy, despite being slightly distracted by a wasp that flew into his shirt after the Discovery Valley and stung him a few times on his stomach.
Thinking it was a thorn he tried to alleviate the “peculiar scratchy sensation” but it wasn’t until he finished and lifted up his shirt and watched it fly away that he realised what had happened.
Tim Price and Ringwood Sky Boy. Photo by Nico Morgan.
Apart from that, his round went more or less to plan he confirmed, “I wanted to survive it and I knew we were capable of that. Sky Boy’s not the most conventional jumper which I think at times was obvious for all to see but he’s got a lot of scope and he tries really hard and he’s very honest, and that stands us in good stead. When the technical elements come along my job gets a bit more difficult, he’s got a very long stride and he just wants to get there so the likes of The Trout Hatchery was a bit of a scramble and the Discovery Valley was not so great either. It was one of those courses that you had to respect it and ride it as it comes and use a bit of feel and make choices along the way.”
Tim’s wife Jonelle moved up to 3rd place overnight on her WEG 2014 ride Classic Moet with one of only two rounds inside the time, something Mark Todd had predicted yesterday, and something that was almost expected of her, “This reputation is becoming a bit of a problem actually! She’s a fast mare, I just have to keep up with her; she really did give me a fantastic round today, I think she was pretty faultless from start to finish. When we walked the course it was pretty big and imposing, very Burghley-like. Captain Mark Phillips built things we’d never seen before and I wasn’t really sure how they were going to ride but I was really pleasantly surprised.”
Chris Burton had the other clear inside the time on TS Jamaimo, his Adelaide 4* catch ride and winner, and said today the horse felt much more on the job and up for it the moment the left the start box compared to Badminton earlier in the Spring when it took him a while to get into his groove. Chris’s second ride Haruzac also went very well and lies right behind his stable mate in 5th place.
Laine Ashker and Anthony Patch. Photo by Nico Morgan.
Bill Levett and Improvise looked very solid the whole way and round out the top six. Mark Todd kept us all on the edge of our seats, surviving one sticky moment after another on Leonidas, and I’m not sure how Tina Cook not only stayed on but managed to leave the Trout Hatchery without penalties after Star Witness hung a leg on the middle element.
William Fox-Pitt was just settling into a lovely rhythm on Fernhill Pimms who looked to be going better and better, and quickly too when he was held right before Fence 23, the big solid ‘Thomson’s Wall’ preceding Discovery Valley.
After what seemed an eternity while the course builders banged one plank back into place, they then let Charlotte Brear go before him as she was slowly making her way there and so the hold ended up being significant.
Once he was restarted William planned on going the long way at the Discovery Valley and then he said in a blonde moment in his effort to make up time he completely missed the B element, remembered as he was almost at the Land Rover arch and had to turn around, gallop back and catch it.
He finished clear but with 20 odd time penalties, but mostly all he could talk about afterwards was how thrilled and delighted he was with his horse who really did rise to the occasion around his first four star today.
Sam Griffiths was having a cracking ride on the experienced and very headstrong Happy Times but eventually his enthusiasm got the better of him, and after jumping huge over the ditch at Discovery Valley and pulling Sam up the hill he was in no position to jump the brush.
Niklas Bschorer’s campaign came to an early end when Tom Tom Go 3 fizzled to a halt between the fences coming out the Anniversary Splash. Oliver Townend was flying round at the very end of the day and Armada looked to be relishing the challenge, jumping easily and economically but was slightly ungenerous at the Trout Hatchery and despite picking up a 20 here they still came home with only 1.2 time penalties.
Colleen Rutledge and Covert Rights. Photo by Lesley Ward.
Andrew Hoy’s run of bad luck continued when he parted company from Rutherglen at Capability’s Cutting but he did turn up in the mixed zone later to assure us he was ok.
Watching Pippa Funnell’s round was like watching her ten years ago, or even more — vintage Pippa — encouraging her horse, riding with such grit and determination but still so secure and effective; like her dressage on Thursday it’s an education to see her in action, and how nice to see Redesigned in the top 12 overnight.
Special shout outs also to Willa Newton who scorched round for 2.8 time but made it look effortless, and Sophie Jenman on Geronimo for a very stylish clear; Geronimo trotted past me as he was pulling up at the finish and he looked as if he was heading to the start box, an exciting combination to keep an eye on.
How exciting were our US combinations though? All four of our horses and riders who travelled over from the US have now jumped round what’s being called the toughest 4* course in the world.
Colleen Rutledge had to work for her clear round on the nine year old homebred Covert Rights, but said about halfway round it clicked in with him what was happening and he improved steadily from there on, and she said she finished with a ton of horse.
Lynn had a great round on Donner, and we’ve already put up her video of her post ride interview; Colleen’s, Tim’s and Laine’s are uploading very, very slowly but we’ll bring them to you as soon as we possibly can.
Tim Bourke had one sticky moment at the Cottesmore Leap and did very well to stay on on landing, but somehow lost his stirrup leather in the process. He said he considered doing a Mark Todd and continuing with just the one but decided he wasn’t high enough up in the rankings to warrant it, so spent probably close to a minute to readjust the leather and fasten it again before getting back underway. After that he and Luckaun Quality had a classy round, making it all look simple.
Laine brought her 16 year old OTTB Anthony Patch home with 40 jumping penalties but should be proud of what a great round they had. The first 20 at the boat under the Lion Bridge was an unlucky moment when Al spooked at something right beforehand and was left underpowered to jump it.
After that they both rose to the challenge; Al galloped round with his ears pricked, listening and responding to Laine and never losing his form over those massive jumps.
The second 20 came in the Trout Hatchery, and Laine admits that he just was too careful jumping in and didn’t meet the next fence right, but on meeting it exactly the same the second time she was more infuriated and rode more strongly and he did it regardless. Much more from Laine, Colleen and Tim on their rides when we can bring you those video interviews.
Mark Phillips professed himself pleased with the results today, “Obviously it was a big track so I was pretty nervous. I have to say a lot of the fences rode differently to what I expected. I was hoping for two or three inside the time. What really pleased me was that of all the horses who started I think only 12 didnt’ get home, I was expecting a bigger number than that over a track of this size. I think there were about 38 clear rounds (42 actually) which again is a good percentage so I’m a very relieved and happy man tonight.”
It’s likely that the course will stay the same way round next year as chopping and changing direction becomes expensive, and most riders agreed that it’s much tougher this way. When asked about various mistakes at specific questions Mark assessed that those who rode properly made a nice picture and those that didn’t: “Don’t come to Burghley if you’re going to ride backwards!”
We also had the opportunity to chat with Canadian rider Rebecca Howard, who is tentatively aiming for Pau with Riddle Master. Best of luck to Rebecca and “Rupert” with their fall plans!
Congratulations to all those who completed today; as Sam Griffiths mentioned yesterday any horse who gets round this course is something pretty special. Well done to all the grooms, families, connections and support crews, let’s hope that tonight is not too long for them — most of the riders were in agreement that the footing was close to perfect.
Thank you to our esteemed photographer Nico Morgan for all his beautiful shots, and thank you and major props to all the volunteers, jump judges and media press tent personnel who all combine to make Burghley one of eveybody’s favourite events.
The Final Horse Inspection is at 9 a.m. local/4 a.m. EST Sunday morning, the first group will show-jump at 10:30 a.m. local/5:30 a.m. EST and the final group will start at 2:25 p.m. local/9:25 a.m. EST.
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