Stand up for the champion! Chris Burton and Nobilis 18 (Image: Libby Law)
Winning a four-star after knocking four rails down in the show jumping is unusual, to say the least, but that was what Australia’s Christopher Burton did on his way to his first win at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials.
‘Burto’, one of the most talented riders to hit the European eventing circuit in the last few years, emerged victorious on Nobilis 18 even if he did live a little dangerously in the closing stages of the competition.
Burto had four rails in hand, and needed all four of them (Image: Libby Law)
Such was Burto’s supremacy after the first two phases that he entered the jumping arena with four fences in hand, and hit all four of them – if he’d had another he would have handed a sixth Burghley victory to the invincible Andrew Nicholson, who rose a place to be second on Nereo with just one down and two time penalties.
Andrew and Nereo finish second for the third time at Burghley (Image: Libby Law)
Jonelle Price scored her best CCI4* result this year, third on Classic Moet with just one rail, and her husband, Tim, who had taken the pressure off Burto with his three fences down on Ringwood Sky Boy, ended up in fourth place.
Jonelle rose to third with Classic Moet (Image: FEI/Trevor Meeks)
The Kiwi domination was such that there were seven New Zealand riders in the top 13 placings. Caroline Powell had a wonderful return to four-star eventing, and looked fabulous in each phase with Onwards And Upwards. They had just one down in the show jumping, plus a time fault, and finished in eighth place.
Caroline Powell and Onwards And Upwards finished well to slot into eighth (Image: Libby Law)
Sir Mark Todd had two rails with NZB Campino and finished ninth. He says ‘Kinky’ was jumping well, but found the related lines very short as he is such a big-striding horse. “I felt like I was riding a bit backwards and then having to sort of chase him in between to get the time. But it’s been great, it’s been a proper Burghley. I was disappointed after the dressage, not in the horse but in the way the horse was marked. But I had a great ride on Saturday and he has come out here and tried today. It hasn’t gone as well as we had hoped, but you know you can’t win them all and we have had a good experience.”
Mark says Campino will now have a break, and may be aimed at Badminton next May.
Blyth Tait, on Bear Necessity, had one rail down and one time fault and finished just outside the top 10, in 11th place.
Blyth and Bear Necessity V (Image: Libby Law)
Dan Jocelyn also put in a great performance on Dasset Cool Touch, at his first Burghley for some years, finishing 13th after 12 faults in the jumping.
Tim Price’s second ride, Bango, finished 21st, after yet another clear show jumping round for this exciting young horse; one of just five from the whole field. While things haven’t gone all their way in four-star competitions this year, we believe there is an exciting future ahead for the pair.
Bango clocks up another clear show jumping round for Tim (Image: Libby Law)
But Burto was the one who had the luck, combined with awesome talent, and it is his time to celebrate today. “I tried to keep it interesting for you all,” he says wryly. “Nobilis is usually a careful jumper, but he felt a bit tired and the ground was perhaps a little dead, but that’s three-day eventing for you.”
Burto: keeping it interesting (Image: FEI/Trevor Meeks)
In taking the title, Christopher became the first Australian rider to win Burghley for more than a decade and also ticked the important personal box of scoring his first four-star win on British soil. “Never in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that I would win Burghley. I’d walked past all the plaques on Winners’ Avenue – all these old boys with their names on them! – and thought it would be nice to have my name there too.”
Andrew Nicholson may not quite count as an “old boy”, but he is 21 years older than Burto and admits that he is not back to full strength after breaking his neck 12 months ago. “You don’t know how special this is,” he told the television cameras.
“It’s good to get back on the merry-go-round and do a very good job, I can assure you of that. I only do this to be competitive. I didn’t want to come back and ride and have people say ‘Isn’t Andrew doing well, considering…’ – I didn’t want that. I feel like I am not looking too bad out there. Anyone tell me if they think I’m looking too desperate and I’ll stop! It feels good, I feel happy doing it, I don’t have to ride at these big events for the sake of turning up; I want to come here and entertain the crowds and get a good result.”
And it was particularly appropriate that this result should come on Libby Sellar’s 16-year-old Nereo, three times a runner-up at Burghley, a winner of World and Olympic medals and a one-man horse with whom Andrew has a particular affinity.
Andrew with Nereo’s owner, Libby Sellar, at the prize-giving. Yes, there’s a trophy for second (Image: Libby Law)
Jonelle, who scored her best Burghley result, admitted that she was disappointed with her dressage mark, which left her in 22nd place. “I feel as if I’ve been digging myself out of a hole from the start, first after the dressage and then when I got time penalties with the wrong line at the Dairy Farm on the cross-country. But now, of course, I’m delighted.
“It’s a top-three for Classic Moet and that’s a first at four-star level for her. She was fifth last year, third this year, I can’t really complain. She’s incredible cross-country; she is my dream ride, we get each other, it is a real team out there, I trust her implicitly and vice versa.” When asked what is next, Jonelle replied: “I think I am destined to win next year, aren’t I? She will go home and have a well-earned holiday and just come back next year. She has come through this competition great so she will be bouncing back next spring and heading to Badminton again.”
Jonelle: delighted with her ‘dream ride’, Classic Moet (Image: Libby Law)
Cedric Lyard from France on Cadeau du Roi and Oliver Townend on Samuel Thomas benefited from clear jumping rounds and rose to fifth and seventh places, split by Bettina Hoy, who had eight faults on Designer 10. Oliver was the best of the British riders, after what must be a disappointing Burghley performance for the home team.
On top of his £46,000 for second place, Andrew Nicholson was pleasantly surprised to find himself the recipient of $US20,000 for leaping into third place in the FEI Classics 2015/2016, an astonishing achievement considering he has only competed at two CCI4* events this season – he was fifth at Luhmühlen in June.
It was also a good payday for Tim Price who was never going to catch Michael Jung, even if he’d won today. Michael was the runaway winner of the FEI Classics first prize with victories at Kentucky and Badminton plus a second place at Pau last year, to pocket a $US40,000 bonus. Tim, who was third at Pau and fourth at Luhmühlen, was second in the series and takes home a cool $US30,000 bonus.
Tim and Ringwood Sky Boy, who finished fourth (Image: Libby Law)
Classic Moet cleaned up most of the Burghley special prizes. She was the highest-placed British-bred horse, the highest-placed horse sired by an SHB-graded stallion or HIS premium stallion, and the highest-placed British-domiciled mare. Her breeder, Elaine Hepworth, receives £1000 from The British Horse Foundation, and Trisha Rickards, the owner, receives a bronze and a rosette from Sport Horse Breeding of Great Britain as well as a scholarship for two embryos from Twemlows Stud Farm.
Becky Woolven won the Best British First-Timer award and receives a miniature of the Land Rover Perpetual Challenge Trophy. She finished 17th, climbing from 33rd after dressage and 22nd after cross-country with her own 10-year-old, Charlton Down Riverdance.
Christopher Burton, 34, is currently ranked the world number two eventing rider. He has won Adelaide CCI4* twice, in 2008 on Newsprint and in 2013 on the catch ride TS Jamaimo, but he really sprang into public consciousness with a brilliant trailblazing cross-country ride at the London Olympic Games in 2012, where he finished 16th on Holstein Park Leilani.
Chris, who is married to fellow rider Rebekah, has lived in Surrey, England, for five years, notching up several good international placings, including third and fourth places at Burghley last year on TS Jamaimo and Haruzac, and second on Nobilis 18 at Blenheim CCI3*.
This year, he won the CCI3* at Saumur on Santano ll, his ride at the Rio Olympics, where he led after the cross-country phase and finished fifth with a team bronze medal.
Nobilis 18 is an 11-year-old Hanoverian-bred gelding by Nobre owned by Sue Lawson, Carolyn Townsend and Chris Burton.
FEI Classics™ 2015/2016 Final Leaderboard – see full results here
1 Michael Jung (GER) 42 points $US40,000
2 Tim Price (NZL) 26, $US30,000
3 Andrew Nicholson (NZL) 18, $US20,000
4 Clarke Johnstone (NZL) 16
5 Christopher Burton (AUS) 15
6 Astier Nicolas (FRA) 15
7 Shane Rose (AUS) 15
8 Andreas Dibowski (GER) 15
9 Sir Mark Todd (NZL) 15
10 Andreas Ostholt (GER) 12
Horse & Country TV interviewed the top three after the prize giving. You can check out their interviews here:
