While the Event Rider Masters dressage doesn’t start until Saturday morning, the rest of the dressage has been completed and the Novice classes have finished, with Tim Price winning one section on Falco IV.
In the CIC3* competition, Gemma Tattersall is thanking the British selectors for her Rio team spot with a 38.2 to take the lead from Pippa Funnell on Billy the Biz (travelling reserve for Rio) who scored 40.9. Tim Price scored 47.2 on Bango and lies 11th, the best-placed New Zealander at this point. He is also 43rd on The Precious One with 55.9. Andrew Nicholson is 17th on Jet Set IV with 50.3 and 38th on Teseo. Lizzie Brown finished in 23rd spot with 51.5, and Bear Necessity V and Blyth Tait are 28th on 53. Spice Sensation and Caroline Powell are 47th on 57.6 and Sir Mark on Landslide is 52nd on 58.8.
In the CIC2* classes, the dressage phase has been completed and what huge fields they had at this level! In one section, Andrew is fourth on 43.4 on Liberto I and 29th on Urma BK. Blyth is in 25th spot on Darius. William Fox-Pitt has his Olympic horse, Chilli Morning in this class and is lying sixth on 44.9, and Izzie Taylor is just in front of him on her Olympic horse, Ceylor LAN on 43.6. Chris Burton is giving his two Rio-nominated horses runs at this level too, and leads the section on Santano II with 40.5. He also leads section D on Nobilis 18, with 35.6. Neil Spratt (Galwaybay Echo) is 22nd in this with 48.3; Blyth (Carin) is 34th with 50.2; Lucy Jackson (Bosun) is 39th on 51.3; Andrew (Swallow Springs) is 45th on 52.6; Caroline (Sinatra Frank Baby) is 47th with 53 and Clarke Johnstone is 49th on 53.3 with Deo Volente III. Dan Jocelyn and Jonelle Price are back in 61st and 62nd on Odds Against (55.8) and Kindred Spirit IV (55.9).
Section E of the two-star is led by William Fox-Pitt on Top Biats with Andrew the top-placed Kiwi in fifth on Byrnesgrove First Diamond on a score of 45. Tim is in 20th spot on Danturano K on 49.5, Lucy is 46th on Superstition II, and Blyth 55th on Leo Distinction.
The Novice classes are completed and Tim won a section on Falco IV, adding nothing to his leading dressage score of 24.8. Jesse Campbell was second on May Ryloa. Tim was also fifth in section K on Smooth Emperor.
In another Novice section Neil Spratt had a second place on First Lancer, behind Chris Burton on Fire Fly. Dan was 15th in the same class on Fjury with Jesse 20th on Cosa Nostra.
Neil was also 17th in another novice class on Emotion, with Alice Montgomery 19th on Diamond Dancing Hettie and Tim Rusbridge 24th on Peaky Blinder. Sir Mark was ninth on Dusk Till Dawn in Section I and Jonelle was seventh on Cekatinka in Section J. A busy fellow, Neil was also in the Intermediate Novice class, finishing sixth on Director General.
Clarke Johnstone has also updated his Eventing page, including posting a video of him schooling Balmoral Sensation at Barbury where he had originally been entered in a two-star class but has withdrawn. He reports that Ritchie is feeling good. “As often happens, we have had a slight change of competition plan for the build-up to Rio. We are now running at Aston Le Walls Advanced rather than Aachen CCIO***. After missing a quiet run at Farley Hall, when it was cancelled due to flooding, Erik and I decided that Aachen wasn’t a sensible option as it would be Ritchie’s only run between Badminton and Rio, and being an important teams competition, we would be expected to run for time xc.”
Aston Le Walls is on 22 – 24th July and the Advanced class has 105 entries with a wait list already in place. There are other Olympic horses entered here, including Jock Paget and Clifton Lush, and some of the shortlisted Australians. Chris Burton has his two (Santano and Nobilis) and Bill Levett has three in, including his Olympic-nominated Alexander NJ and Improvise. Three Aussies recently arrived in the UK with their horses and all are entered in this event. Shane Rose has three: CP Qualified, Shanghai Joe and Virgil II. Stuart Tinney has Carlchen and Pluto Mio entered and Sonja Johnson will ride Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison. Other New Zealanders will be riding as well: Lucy Jackson has two in, Dan has Dassett Cool Touch, and Andrew will have three, including the two who recently competed at Luhmühlen (Perfect Stranger and Qwanza). Caroline Powell, Blyth Tait, Sir Mark and Tim Price are riding.
