Oliver Townend

Hailing from Yorkshire but now based in Shropshire, Oliver inherited his love of horses from his parents. His mother Eve showed side-saddle at county level and his father Alan competed successfully in three-day eventing. His early success was gained on Cool Mule, with whom he won a showjumping final at the Horse of the Year Show and represented Great Britain on the Pony Eventing Team at European Championship level.

In 2005, Topping provided Oliver with his first opportunity to ride at Badminton, where he finished in 12th place, earning selection to the FEI European Championships in Blenheim that year. Flint Curtis took over as Oliver’s top horse in 2006 after they finished third at Badminton– the horse’s first CCI4* (now 5*) event. Oliver remained on the British squad, riding Flint Curtis as an individual at the Aachen World Equestrian Games that year, before earning his first team place – and a European Championship gold medal – at Pratoni del Vivaro in 2007.

Further CCI5* wins for Oliver came at Burghley (2017) and Kentucky (2018, 2019 and 2021). In recent years, he was part of the European gold medal-winning team in 2017 and European silver medal-winning team in 2019, both with Cooley Master Class.

• Remarkably, Ballaghmor Class – known as Thomas – has finished in the top five in all six of his CCI5* appearances, winning two of them. He has been with Oliver since he was a young horse and, although he hasn’t always been the easiest, Oliver describes him as one of the ‘all-time greatest horses that he’s had the pleasure of riding’.