Mark and Land Vision, courtesy of the great Nico Morgan
Greetings Eventing Nation, I hope you are having a good Easter Sunday. It was an exciting day of cross-country at Badminton that included a last minute scoring reversal so lets jump right into it. All day long, Germany’s Marina Kohncke and Calma Schelly was scored with 3.2 time penalties which gave her the lead right up until the end. That time calculation included a hold on course for Marina and when they reviewed the hold information at the end of the day they determined that she should be assessed two additional seconds worth of time. The scoring change gave her a score of 43.8 and bumped Mark Todd into the lead. Nicola Wilson’s WEG ride Opposition Buzz moved up from 12th to 3rd with one of only 7 double-clears on the day. Andrew Nicholson and Nereo had another of those double-clears to go into 4th. It’s going to be an incredibly exciting show jumping finish as *12 horses are within a rail of the lead going into Sunday.
Badminton XC Results:
1. Mark Todd and Land Vision (NZL) +6.8 43.6
2. Marina Kohncke and Calma Schelly (GER) +4 43.8
3. Nicola Wilson and Opposition Buzz +0 44.0
4. Andrew Nicholson and Nereo (NZL) +0 44.3
5. Piggy French and Jakata +9.2 45.2
6. Laura Collett and Rayef +8.8 45.3
7. Mary King and Imperial Cavalier +1.6 45.8
8. Sam Griffiths and Happy Times (AUS) +0 46.3
9. Niklas Lindback and Mister Pooh (SWE) +0 46.7
10. Caroline Powell and Lenamore (NZL) +0 47.2
[Live Scores, Rider Interviews, Penalties by Fence, XC Fence Photos]
–New Zealand and Great Britain showed their cross-country strength today, with 7 riders combined in the top 10. New Zealand has their two veterans in the top 4.
–It’s hard to say enough about Mark Todd’s performance with an inexperienced horse to push literally just enough to put him in position to win Badminton tomorrow with a clear round. He’s gone from retired to back to one of the best riders on Earth in just a few years.
–Overnight leaders Ruth Edge and Two Thyme had another tough trip around Badminton, and had a stop at the bounce at the Huntsmans Close late on the course. They elected to retire at the Quarry after a stop.
–This was a day that most of the North American pairs will want to forget. Aside from Buck’s gutsy performance to get Reggie around, everyone else had a tough day. As I mentioned earlier, Hawley finished with a stop, and Jennifer retired at the Lake after two stops.
–Selena O’Hanlon and Colombo picked up two stops at the sunken road after a having fantastic early part of her round. They finished looking strong to get the momentum back for next time. I don’t remember the last time Colombo had a stop so that was a tough break for the Canadian contingent.
–Steph’s round started looking shaky toward the end after she was held on course and they picked up 20 at the Huntsman’s Close. Then Steph popped off over Port Authority’s shoulder jumping out of the quarry. Both were fine, but it was a tough end to a frustrating weekend for Steph.
–Karen and Mandiba had a scary moment at the Normandy Bank. Mandiba picked up a stop at the Shogun Hollow at 10 and then they continued after a second stop there. Mandiba then stopped at the log on top of the Normandy Bank after jumping up the bank. Karen popped off, and Mandiba stepped back off the bank. Mandiba was taken back to the barn in a trailer. Samantha spoke with William Micklem who said that Mandiba would be ok but will get x-rays to his ribs.
—Update: I received word that x-rays showed that Mandiba has a broken rib but will be fine. Karen is also fine fortunately.
–The biggest move up of the day was Harry Meade and Wild Lone who moved up 40 places from 67th to 27th by adding just two time penalties.
–I don’t know if you had a chance to look at the Horse and Hound’s live blog, but I loved the representation North America was getting. It seemed like every other commenter was cheering on US and Canadian riders.
–Oliver Towend and Ashdale Cruise Master had a sticky moment in the jump into the water that Samantha descibed as a flashback to 2010, but Oli did a great job of hanging on. Unfortunately, the quarry at Badminton caused ACM to hang another leg at the log on top of the hill and Oliver went over the top of him. Oliver was up and apparently fine, he later said on his Facebook page that ACM would be sore but ok.
–I have not seen any official update on Elizabeth Power who was airlifted or Camilla Speirs who was taken off course in an ambulance.
That’s all for now. We’ll have much more from Badminton including link to all of the other great coverage elsewhere on the interweb. More importantly, it’s Easter. Go outside, enjoy the weather, ride as many horses as you can, and enjoy your afternoon. Go eventing.
