Tim Price is sitting second on Ringwood Sky Boy (Image: FEI/Trevor Meeks)
New Zealand riders showed exactly why they are considered the best cross-country jockeys on the planet over a very troublesome Land Rover Burghley course, with clear jumping rounds from Tim and Jonelle Price, Andrew Nicholson, Mark Todd, Caroline Powell, Blyth Tait and Dan Jocelyn.
Although Australia’s Christopher Burton has a handsome lead on Nobilis 18 after his masterful cross-country round, New Zealand riders fill second, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, 11th and 18th places.
Chris Burton and Nobilis 18 now have a handsome lead (Image: FEI/Trevor Meeks)
Nobody got the optimum time, but ‘Burto’ and Nobilis 18 had the second-fastest round of the day, eight seconds over, to add 3.2pen to their dressage score and sit on 33.4, which is 11.5pen clear of second-placed Tim Price with Ringwood Sky Boy.
Tim says he was really pleased with the performance of ‘Oz’, given the conditions. “He is not a mud plugger but he has learned how to be a mud plugger, if that makes sense. He’s now experienced at this level and it was so much fun, 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 got so much scope I don’t need to pressure him anywhere, and I trust him.
“I was excited, I love Burghley and he loves Burghley. The unfortunate fall we had a couple of weeks ago out in Brazil, it was footing you were not used to. Burghley is so well prepared and the going is perfect everywhere and you could trust the going, so that meant we had a good platform to do a a good job. You have to have a bit of luck, and it is not something you can put into your planning, but it is nice when things go your way.
Tim and Ringwood Sky Boy: making a tough course look easy (Image: Libby Law)
Unsurprisingly, speed queen Jonelle was the fastest cross-country, just four seconds over with Classic Moet, and soared up the scoreboard from 22nd after dressage to sit fourth. Jonelle was cross with herself for having to take a muddled line through the Dairy Farm (fence 14). However, her performance was brilliant, for time penalties in double figures were the order of the day even before the heavy rain started to fall around lunchtime.
“First and foremost I am disappointed that I was five seconds over the time, she doesn’t deserve that,” says Jonelle. “If there was one horse within the time today it deserves to be her. She just answers all the questions and she is so gutsy… and to come home just five seconds [over] on a day like today… I don’t know how many four-stars she has done now but she has been pretty foot-perfect.”
Andrew Nicholson and Nereo are now sitting third (Image: Libby Law)
Andrew Nicholson is lying third on the 16-year-old Nereo, having collected 12 time penalties. “Nereo doesn’t really like it at Burghley, because he’s a big-striding horse and a power machine and it feels like the up-and-downs are hard for him. He has been second here twice and I keep saying ‘I won’t bring him back’, ‘I won’t bring him back’, but here he is and he still does the job even though he doesn’t like it here. He always does the job,” says Andrew. “I’ve got a soft spot for him. I’ve taken him all round the world and he always comes up with the goods.
“It felt like I was working all the way, but you’ve got to remember I have been a little bit on the sidelines and a bit off the pace. Normally at this sort of a level on a horse like this, half the fences you could just sit and cruise over them, but it didn’t feel like that today… maybe I was a bit nervous.”
Andrew says Nereo doesn’t enjoy the undulations at Burghley, but gets the job done (Image: FEI/Trevor Meeks)
Sir Mark Todd has risen four places to sixth with NZB Campino, having feared that the German-bred 14-year-old would not like the undulating ground either. Mark and Andrew were two of the best riders through the water complex at the Trout Hatchery (20, 21), both opting for a bold four strides instead of five on the curve from the corner to the third element, a skinny in the second pond.
Sir Mark says: “I had a really good round. I had one slight change of plan at the c-element of the Dairy Mound which was unfortunate, but other than that he was really good all the way around. I think it is a real Burghley track and I don’t know why this year it is causing more trouble. Maybe the standard of the field isn’t as good, having had the Olympics recently. It is a proper test out there. I am very happy; I was disappointed after the dressage. I thought the judging was appalling yesterday. Today is another day and tomorrow is again another day, so we will keep going.”
Caroline Powell is now seventh on Onwards And Upwards with 21.6 time penalties, but looked very accomplished on course at her first four-star for a while, and was delighted with her performance.
Caroline Powell was thrilled with Onwards And Upwards’ performance (Image: Libby Law)
“I am thrilled to bits that he is here and he has completed today. I’ve had a broken ankle, the horse has been off for a couple of years… we had a bit of pressure coming into this but I decided just to relax and enjoy it, as what is going to happen, will happen. The more you relax and get on with it, the better it goes. I hate rain so I wanted to get out of the rain as quick as possible. But in actual fact once you are out there, you don’t really notice it too much. The fences don’t change, it is just the ground and the conditions that do.
“Burghley is always difficult. The fences are big and you have the undulations. A couple of times my horse, because he is green at this level, trotted down the road crossings which is fine, they learn from it, but he was foot-perfect over the fences, bless him. He’s gone back to the stables looking very well.”
Tim was the first New Zealander out on course on his young horse Bango who was travelling very well, but had a green stop at the Leaf Pit fence, just stepping back as he hesitated on top of the huge bank. “I am really pleased with him. He matured as he went around. As he got further round he got better.”
Blyth Tait, riding at Burghley for the first time in five years, pronounced himself “rapt” with the former hunter Bear Necessity V. They now sit 11th after negotiating a couple of unplanned long routes.
Blyth Tait and Bear Necessity: an absolute slog (Image: Libby Law)
“It is an absolute slog, it is quite hilly and it is cut up now,” he says. “My horse was just amazing. I had a really good ride until I got to Capability’s Cutting and I tried to make him stand off the first… he misread it a bit and hit it really hard. He had every right to fall over, to be honest, but he was like a cat and saved himself and saved me over the next one because I was about to go, ‘Oh bugger, I’ve just had a stop.’
“And then I had to just go a couple of long ways that were not planned and in the water I just got a bit of loss of rein and control but it didn’t waste too much time. I always planned to go straight at Discovery Valley but I got a very forward stride to it and he leaped all the way into the bottom and I didn’t have a chance of making the turn, so we have ended up with 24 time faults, but to be honest, I am completely rapt with him, he never gave up.
“If someone like Andrew [Nicholson] has 12 time faults, well then it is a tall order for someone like me! I am thrilled with him; he has jumped another clear round four-star and that is his third one in a row.”
Fellow Kiwi Dan Jocelyn hasn’t been at Burghley for a few years either, but performed really well incurring just 15.6 time faults to be in 18th place with Dassett Cool Touch. “It was challenging right from the beginning. Having had the opportunity to watch 10 horses or so, you could see it was going to be a big effort, and then it started to rain. It just adds to the big endurance test out there, and I’m just glad my horse was fit enough for the job. I always thought he could be a horse that could run around a track like this and he proved that today.”
Chris Burton had to wait until nearly the end of the day for his round, and admitted to nerves. “Sitting watching in the riders’ tent didn’t help,” he confesses. “But I’m delighted now; the horse gave me a great feel.”
Bettina Hoy, the dressage runner-up on Designer 10, admitted to feeling “intimidated” and set off tentatively, but the further she went the more polished she looked and she finished strongly with 19.2 time penalties to take fifth place at this stage. “It was tough and I was a bit ‘backwards’ to start with and had to give myself a good talking-to, but what a horse! I’m so pleased. I don’t have many horses nowadays so I think I am able to have a good relationship with them and they help me out.”
British number one Oliver Townend, fifth after dressage on MHS King Joules, was last out on course and was going well until he missed his line at the Trout Hatchery. He then retired after a run-out at the third element of the Discovery Valley (27), but is now the best-placed of the home side, lying 10th on his first ride, Samuel Thomas.
France’s Cedric Lyard and Cadeau du Roi, a classy thoroughbred galloper, have moved up from 14th to eighth and Australia’s Bill Levett has risen three places to ninth on Improvise.
Andrew Hoy, who had been sixth after dressage on The Blue Frontier, took a ducking in the Trout Hatchery, but he is in 15th place after a good ride on Rutherglen. Sam Griffiths, eighth after dressage on Happy Times, made a valiant effort to continue after a stirrup broke early in the course, but was unfortunately forced to pull up.
Fellow Australians Shane Rose, Sonja Johnson and Paul Tapner didn’t have the best of days either. Shane pulled up Shanghai Joe at the Road to Rio double in the main arena (28, 29) and incurred 11 penalties for breaking a frangible device at the Cross Rails (25) on Virgil; Sonja fell from Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison at the Rolex corner (15), and Paul was taken to hospital for a precautionary check-up after a fall with Up In the Air at the rails at Herbert’s Hollow (22). He was found to be okay, just bruised.
Forty riders completed with 28 clear rounds.
Although Burto is the clear leader going into tomorrow’s jumping phase, and could become the first Australian to win Burghley for 10 years, the cash prizes for the minor placings in the FEI Classics series are still up for grabs despite Michael Jung being already confirmed the winner. Tim and Sir Mark, in particular, are looking to make gains, and riders placed sixth to 10th are all within a rail of each other.
Results after Cross-Country
1 Christopher Burton/Nobilis 18 (AUS) 30.2 + 3.2 = 33.4
2 Tim Price/Ringwood Sky Boy (NZL) 38.9 + 6.0 = 44.9
3 Andrew Nicholson/Nereo (NZL) 35.2 + 12.0 = 47.2
4 Jonelle Price/Classic Moet (NZL) 48.5 + 1.6 = 50.1
