We’ll start back at Burghley where William Fox-Pitt proved once again why he is possibly the best event rider on the scene right now, piloting Parklane Hawk to a five point win at his first 4* star. Andrew Nicholson was his closest rival until the Kiwi lowered three rails on Avebury to near enough hand it to Brit. It was a multinational top ten with the likes of Jonathan Paget and Boyd Martin finishing well placed and proving that they are not to be taken lightly. This really is a good thing. With riders like this shinning through we’re going to have a great competition at London 2012 next year. There were a host of up and coming young stars putting in good performances at Burghley this year too. There were a few who really stood out for me. Ben Hobday overcame the breathing problems he had at Badminton to jump a classy double clear on Guna Be Good and Sarah Stretton who rode Lazy Acres Skip On to his 3rd cross country clear in four 4* events. Then there was an excellent performance from first timer Tom McEwen who on his 4* debut rode a great clear round inside the time for 10th after cross country. With more experience these young riders really will be ones to look out for in the not too distant future. There were also the riders who stood out at the final trot up. The rain certainly didn’t stop the high heels coming out and it was Georgie Spence who stood out the most and won best-dressed rider and I must say she deserved it. She looked stunning! Burghley is one for a good party with the grooms and riders often ending up in a certain nightclub in Stamford. A young rider had such a good time one evening that they ended up 25 miles away from the event with no idea how they got there or how to get back at 4am! There were also a couple more people caught out having a good time, our own Paul White and James Sommerville. And they told me they were there working!
Next up was Blenheim where Piggy French rode to victory in the CCI*** on DHI Topper, and William Fox-Pitt Clinched the 8/9 year old CIC*** aboard Oslo. The biggest shock of the week though was the Australian’s failing to qualify for London 2012 by losing out to the Japanese who snatched it way from them. They really are going to have to buckle down next season and earn that qualification the hard way but I’m sure they will.
The sun came out for Osberton this year and what a difference after it was knee deep in mud last year. This year it could not have been more different. I really enjoyed this event, it was well laid out and had a beautiful set up with tough but fair tracks. There were two things that did let them down though. Firstly the ground; It was not only hard but lumpy and uneven in too many places. Secondly the standard of judging in the CCI and CIC dressage; why these judges have to mark so harshly is beyond me and as soon as a big flashy horse comes in they just throw marks at it! Now I’m not a judge but I saw too many tests that didn’t get the mark they deserved and too many that got a better mark than they deserved. There were wins for Michael Jackson in the CCI*, and a CCI** win made Ingrid Klimke’s trip over a very worthwhile one. It was a hot contest in the 6 and 7 year old classes with Kitty King taking the 6 year old’s with Andrew Heffernan not far behind in 2nd. Both Kitty and Andy head out to Le Lion with these horses next week and with results like that they will both be up for bringing that title home with them. It was also a close run contest in the 7 year old with J-P Sheffield jumping an impressive clear round on DHI Zatopek B to move from 3rd to win the class after 2nd placed James Sommerville had an unlucky rail and the leader after cross country, Angus Smales, lowered two poles to drop to 3rd. The parties where bouncing and on the Wednesday night they brought in a pole dancer for the evening entertainment. It got even more entertaining when six people were dragged up to be taught a few tricks including Tim Rogers who was enjoying himself far too much. Sorry Tim! Holly Woodhead also got a bit too involved and ended up sliding down the pole head first at quite a pace. The connection with the ground was a good one but a couple of drinks later and she was fine. The Saturday night disco had a packed dance floor and the bar was doing very good business. A Kiwi introduced me to what seems to be a new craze, snorting vodka! After seeing the tears in their eyes at the lorry after-party I gave it a miss. The morning after the night before the announcement was made that the show would not begin until the Australian and Lycett’s flags were returned, which raised a smile on my face. I’d love to know who took them.
We then went on to the Horse of the Year Show for the Express Eventing Final. It proved to be a great event that went right down to the wire. Perhaps not unexpectedly Matthew Wright took home the £12,000 title but not until he had completed a hell-for-leather showjumping round. Sam Griffith’s had been in the lead but couldn’t quite cut it in the showjumping. Real Dancer is a superb dressage horse though.
Several of the Express Eventing riders were to head off to Boekelo at 5am the morning after the final. The competition ran well into the evening, and of course the riders wanted to party afterwards. Last spotted in the Hilton bar, three of them didn’t quite manage to make their early flight, and had to book another for later in the day! They weren’t the only ones with travel problems en route to the Dutch event. Gary Parsonage and Emily Parker somehow managed to get their lorry stuck under a bridge on their way there.
Our final stop of this installment is Weston Park where we have three new Champions. Will Furlong took the JRN section, Toby Bell the Pony Championship’s and the new Under 21 Champion is Lucy Loughton. I think I said in my last blog, but it is nice to see new names winning the big classes and having fresh talent coming through. From what I heard it seemed that Ben Hobday and Dan Jocelyn’s lorries were the place to be in the evening with the exception of the Saturday night when Weston Park partied like it used to. It wasn’t just the young JRNs having a good time in the maruquee; the older lot were defiantly showing them how it’s done. The bar was near enough drunk dry and there was a lot of table dancing, until five riders who shall remain nameless went through two of them. Shoulder dancing and drunk shirtless JRNs, Weston was certainly getting back to how it used to be!!
Anyway that’s your lot for this installment. I hope you enjoyed it, and if you have any “partnerships”, partying or controversy you’d like me to investigate, or if you want to have a guess as to who “Arthur Sleep” really is then please email me at manofmystery@eventingworldwide.com.
Until next time, keep your ear to the ground.
Arth ; xx
