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eliminated, 12 retired and two withdrawn.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.
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).