Saturday, 07 May 2022
The first 'Badminton Saturday' for some three years certainly didn’t disappoint, with action aplenty on Eric Winter’s 6,688 metre cross-country course which transgresses one of Britain’s most iconic parks. A sell-out crowd of around 110,000 witnessed some fantastic riding, with the early May sunshine and light breeze giving optimum conditions for this year's Badminton Horse Trials, presented by Mars Equestrian.
The leaderboard saw a number of changes across the day, but the number one spot is still occupied by Laura Collett and her Tokyo team gold medal winner, London 52, owned by Karen Bartlett, Keith Scott and Laura. The duo showed their class in a round which was simply top drawer. A held on course – which was a new experience for 'Dan' – didn’t seem to have an impact, but Laura knew she’d have to just keep kicking home to ensure she stopped the clock under the 11:44 optimum time, which she did will 11 seconds to spare. The result mean there was nothing to add nothing to their dressage score of 21.0.
“I don’t really know where to start,” said Laura. “The horse was just amazing. I never knew how deep he would dig for me and today, he just kept digging – it was relentless out there. At the Vicarage Vee was the only time he questioned my sanity and wondered what on earth I was asking him to do, but he just said ‘okay, you say we go, we go’ and luckily he’s super scopey.
“The thing that amazed me most was he’s never been held on course before. To be held at that point [late on] you think ‘so close, yet so far’. There’s been a few tumbles late on and I didn’t know how he’d cope. But he came back on the bridle and it was like riding a fresh horse, he just said ‘right, let’s go again!’.
“The feeling coming up into this main arena with a packed grandstand – crossing that finish line in Tokyo was amazing but here, being Badminton... I’m not going to say it tops Tokyo, but it’s on a par. He’s a show-off. He’s hated not having crowds, he rises to the occasion. Boekelo was one of my best rounds where people were screaming, but this tops anything. He just loves it,” she finished.
Oliver Townend sits in second and third with his brace of greys. His first round aboard Paul and Diana Ridgeon’s scopey Swallow Springs got off to an eventful start, with a sticky moment at the ‘c’ element of the HorseQuest Quarry meant it wasn’t clear if they’d passed through the flags correctly, but Oliver pressed onwards. A spooky jump at the Clarence Court Egg Boxes following them being held on the course was their only other ‘moment’, before stopping the time with eight seconds to spare to stay on their dressage score of 25.7.
On his ride with Swallow Springs, he explained his near miss: “He’s athletic isn’t he! I walked four [strides] and still thought it was four when I jumped the log, but he picked up one at the hedge. You produce horses to go through the flags and luckily he did, and I managed to stay on!”
“Quite honestly, some will feel it was an advantage to have a halt there. He really was travelling before the hold, but after the hold I was too big to the egg boxes because I was re-starting my watch and he stood off a long way there, which takes the breath out of you a little bit over a big jump like that. For me, I’d have preferred to keep going but we had the break, the result is a good one and he finished very happy and within himself.”
He then summed up; “He's a good horse. The course was hard work, but good horses will go round sweetly and make it look easy, and the rest will make it look like hard work, which is exactly what a five-star should be.”
With his Tokyo gold medal partner, Ballaghmor Class, who he rides for Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan, he just purred round once ‘Thomas’ had found his stride. The pair made little of the challenges of the course, with every fence met on stride and jumped with pinpoint accuracy, with just a few moments when the bold grey thought he knew best. Oliver’s inbuilt time clock and natural speed skills were pretty accurate to finish four seconds inside the time.
After his ride he told us; “He’s a pleasure to ride. He worried me a little in the warm-up, which he can do. We met a couple of hunt horses and they came down to the start and he settled down. He’s a funny old quirky horse, but he’s a phenomenon. I don’t think I’ll ever have another one like him again.
“He got a little bit away with me in places today and ended up adding a few [strides] in a couple of places. He was a bit tricky to steer in Huntsmans’, but about half way round felt like ‘oh, I remember where I am and this is hard work’. He was brilliant because the minute he settles down, he lets me ride him and he tells me when I need to lean forwards and give him a little dig and he responds beautifully. He’s just a good friend, I feel if you set out a six- or a seven-star, we’d still come home on him, he’s very very special.”
That puts Swallow Springs in second with 25.7, which gives Laura a fence in hand for tomorrow’s deciding showjumping phase, while Ballaghmor Class is just 0.2 penalties behind on 25.9 in third.
Climbing six place up the leaderboard to fourth with a fantastic Badminton debut clear inside the time was reigning World Champion Ros Canter with her British-bred Lordships Graffalo, owed by Michelle Saul. At just 10 years old, ‘Walter’ is one of the youngest in the field, but his round today was certainly one of the classiest of the day – if there was any doubt about his five-star credentials ahead of the journey from Lincolnshire to Gloucestershire, there certainly isn’t now!
Ros said; “He loved it! He is truly an amazing horse to ride cross-country and I’ve never been on anything like it. He just goes when you say go, you can add strides or take strides out, he just leads with his eyes and his brain, too. He actually made it feel like a Pony Club track. I did enjoy it! He was out of this world. I broke him in as a three-year-old and have done everything with him. His breeder [Pennie Wallace] will be hugely excited that he’s done what he’s done – she’s a small-time breeder and to produce a horse like that, this will be one of the best days of her life. The owners have been quite loyal to me, they’ve had a few which haven’t made the top level so to have a horse like him with them has been really special.”
With her second ride, her World Championship gold medallist whom she owns with Caroline Moore, Allstar B, Ros was another to have a long hold up on course but the pair showed they were back to the form which won that title in Tryon, with a class round today to just finish four seconds over the time, putting puts them sixth. Ros beamed: “He’s an absolute legend, he’s a big-bodied horse and it always feels a little harder work on him, but he’s just so genuine that he’ll jump from anywhere.”
Nestling inbetween Ros’s two rides are our Badminton reigning champions, Piggy March and Trevor Dickens’ Vanir Kamira, who just missed a faultless performance by one second. “It was good, it felt hard work – it was hard work to the end, very intense, not that it’s never not at Badminton," Piggy explained. "She’s given me my best days of my life competing. She’s one of those you ride at home and you wouldn’t ever give another thought. It’s those that are so special from their heart and what they do when they get to the big occasion, today was one of those, she’s been like it all her life. She finished well and I’m just so proud of her.“
Full results from today's cross-country phase are available here.
European Champions Nicola Wilson and JL Dublin, owned by James and Jo Lambert and Dierdre Johnston, suffered a nasty fall when going beautifully at the Mars M fence. Nicola was attended to immediately by the medical staff. The Badminton Horse Trials organisers issued the following statement:
Nicola Wilson, competitor number nine, who had a fall on the cross-country course, is stable but has been transferred to Southmead Hospital for trauma scans and further investigation.
The horse JL Dublin has returned to his stable and is comfortable.
All at British Equestrian wish Nicola and her connections well, and we’ll post any updates when they become available.
Horses and riders will rest up overnight, before the final horse inspection at 8:30 tomorrow morning. The jumping phase is scheduled to get underway at approximately 11:30, with the top 20 competitors jumping at 15:30.
BBC2 will be broadcasting highlights of the competition so far, followed by a livestream of the final 10 showjumping rounds, from 14:15.