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Challenging Burghley Cross Country Suits Kiwis

Challenging Burghley Cross Country Suits Kiwis

New Zealand’s top eventers today highlighted the strength of their cross country skills, with six in the top 11 after a challenging day at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in the UK.
Tim Price and Ringwood Sky Boy moved up from seventh to second, to sit 11.5 penalty points behind Chris Burton (AUS) and Nobilis 18, with Andrew Nicholson aboard Nereo third on 47.2, Jonelle Price and Classic Moet fourth on 50.1, Sir Mark Todd on NZB Campino sixth on 59, Caroline Powell on Onwards and Upwards seventh on 59.4 and Blyth Tait aboard Bear Necessity V 11th on 64.
Dan Jocelyn pulled himself up from 25th going into the cross country to 18thaboard Dassett Cool Touch, to sit on 75.4, while Tim Price and Bango are in 27th on 98.7.
Rain played its part over the Captain Mark Phillips’ designed course, with 16 eliminated, 12 retired and two withdrawn. However, there were 28 clear rounds out of the 40 finishers.
No one came home inside the time, but perhaps unsurprisingly, the fastest of the day was Jonelle Price who was clear and added just 1.6 time penalties to her dressage score to move from 22nd to fourth after going just four seconds over time. Leader Burton was the next fastest with his 3.2 time faults.
Burghley is the last leg of the FEI Classics Series and Tim Price has done himself all sorts of favours with that effort, as well bolstering the confidence of both himself and the horse after a less than ideal run at the Rio Olympics.
“You have to have a bit of luck in this game and it is nice when things go your way,” he said. “Given the conditions and the stage of the day, I am really pleased. He is not a mud plugger but has learnt to be one. He is now experienced at this level. We know each other inside and out and we were able to take full advantage of that today.
“It was a tough course but he has so much scope I didn’t need to pressure him anywhere.”
It helped too that Burghley, one of his favourite events, is always so perfectly presented.
“The unfortunate fall we had a couple of weeks ago in Brazil was in footing you just aren’t used to. Burghley is so well prepared and the going is perfect everywhere. You can trust the footing so I knew we had a really good platform to do a good job.”
The horse continues to do better and better as he too has learnt to believe in himself.
Third-place Nicholson described his horse as “world class”.
“He never feels like he likes it here,” said Nicholson. “He is a big striding horse and is a power machine . . . it feels as though the up and down is hard for him. He has been second here twice and I keep saying I won’t bring him back.”
Powell was “thrilled to bits” with the efforts of Onwards and Upwards.
“I have had a broken ankle and the horse has been off too,” she said. “We are just really chuffed to be here. We started to feel a bit of pressure coming into this and we decided just to relax and enjoy it . . . the more you relax and get on with it, the better it goes.”
No fan of the rain, Powell said the objective is always to get out of bad weather as quickly as possible.
“The fences don’t change, just the ground and conditions. Once you are out there you don’t really notice it (the rain) too much. Burghley is always difficult. The fences are big but you also have the undulations.”
Blyth Tait, a two time winner at Burghley, was also on a high.
“It was an absolute slog out there. It is quite hilly and cut up, but my horse was just amazing. We have ended up with 24 time faults but to be honest I am absolutely rapt with him. He never gave up.”
The horses all face a second inspection before continuing to the final phase, the showjumping overnight.

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What: Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials
When August 31-September 4, 2016
Where: Stamford, Lincolnshire, UK
For more info: www.burghley-horse.co.uk
Latest results: www.bdwp.co.uk
Latest FEI Classics standings: http://inside.fei.org/system/files/Classics%2520Standings%25202016%2520%2528%25205th%2520event%2529.pdf

The horse details -

Bango (owned by The Numero Uno Syndicate), Ringwood Sky Boy (owned by Varenna Allen, Robert Taylor, Selwood.com and Tim Price), Bear Necessity V (owned by Ronnie Bartlett), Classic Moet (owned by Trisha Rickards and Jonelle Price), Dassett Cool Touch (owned by Therese Miller and Dan Jocelyn), Onwards and Upwards (owned by Mr and Mrs Cameron Crawford and Caroline Powell), Nereo (owned by Deborah Sellar), Qwanza (owned by Mark and Rosemary Barlow), NZB Campino (owned by Sir Peter Vela and Sir Mark Todd).

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