| The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, 2005.
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The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials was a triumph for William Fox-Pitt and Ballincoola, who led from start to finish. It was held in the grounds of Burghley House, Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, from 1st to 4th September.
The event took place in scorching sunshine, which brought in more dressage spectators, and by the time William and the liver chestnut Ballincoola performed their test on Friday afternoon, there was quite an atmosphere, with plenty of applause from the crowded stands. William and Ballincoola’s score was just 0.4 points ahead of the Athens Silver Medallist Kim Severson on Winsome Adante, who had taken the lead that morning.
Then William, who was almost last to go, jumped clear inside the time around the last ever long format event to be held in Britain. It had 3 kilometers of roads and tracks, followed by 2 kilometers of steeplechase and a further 5 kilometers of roads and tracks, before the cross country course. Traditionally the long format has enabled horses to warm up before tackling the cross-country, but the heat was overwhelming and Ballincoola had been withdrawn from Badminton on cross country day because of a heart fibrillation. However all went well, in spite of a difficult moment at the Dairy Farmer’s Choice.
‘He picked up off an awful stride,’ said William. ‘He gave it a good thump, but we survived. I didn’t have to ride him out, even at the finish.’
In the showjumping, Ballincoola still had his supporters’ hearts in their mouths. With two fences in hand, he hit both the parallel bars and the pole above the ornamental gate, and he still had three fences to go.
‘I kept thinking: "What on earth am I going to do about those wretched planks that keep falling?"’ said William. But Ballincoola cleared the planks, the last fence on the course, and clinched the third Burghley win of William’s career.
‘It’s as great a thrill as my other wins,’ said William. ‘When I first won Burghley I was 24, and I thought "Oh, that was all right." Now I’m 36, I realise that it doesn’t happen that often.’
Only Ginny Elliott and Mark Todd have previously won Burghley more than twice. Last year William and Ballincoola finished 11th. Ballincoola, now 11, has won Barbury Castle CIC this year and also completed Burghley in 2003. His owners, Mr Michael Payne and Mrs Judith Skinner, were hardly able to watch during his final round. Judith Skinner said the suspense was dreadful.
‘He’s a very good horse. They deserve to win,’ said William. ‘But I think success comes down to your back-up. I have a fantastic back-up team at home, and my main sponsor is Equissage.’
William had the most hectic schedule of any competitor, because he had driven home to Dorset, over 200 miles away, on Thursday to ride Tamarillo in preparation for the European Championships at Blenheim, returning on Friday.
He is also a first-time father. His wife Alice gave birth to Oliver last month. ‘Ollie’s too young to ride here,’ joked William. ‘We’re going to start him at Blenheim next week.’
Second was The Foreman, ridden by Phillip Dutton, whose world ranking is 10th. He was only 13th after dressage but a clear round across country had raised him to fourth place. He was the only horse to finish the cross country without time faults and also go clear in the showjumping.
‘He is nine, and I’ve had him since he was four.’ said Phillip. ‘He was second at Kentucky last year and he’s been to Burghley before. Coming from Australia, I wouldn’t call it hot here. I thought it was a really good cross country course. The undulating terrain adds another dimension to your riding. You have to re-balance to get away from the fences. The showjumping course was not that big.’
However plenty of fences fell during this phase for most competitors.
Next was Lord Killinghurst with Andrew Nicholson from Australia. A score of 44.6 had left him into third place after dressage, then an excellent cross country round, clear except for a couple of time faults, had put him in second place. But he hit three showjumping fences, including the final planks, and finished third for the third year running, with just two penalties more than last year.
‘He is possibly going to Badminton,’ said Andrew. ‘I think third place is settled for him at Burghley. And I’m all for the new short format.’
‘Did you have a barney with the judges over your dressage score?’ he was asked. ‘I’m still looking forward to that!’ he replied.
Call Again Cavalier came fourth, ridden by Mary King. He was the last horse ever ridden by Caroline Pratt before her fatal fall on Primitive Streak here last year. Mary was a spectator that year because of the closeness of the Olympics. ‘I watched him with Caroline,’ she said, ‘and thought: "What a perfect partnership!" Two months later I was invited to ride him. I was thrilled to bits. I couldn’t believe it!’ Since taking on the ride, she has completed Badminton and been placed third in the British Open Championships at Gatcombe.
Mistakes by Mary cost her second place. She forgot a movement in the dressage test and finished 1.3 points behind the leader at that stage, Muschamp Impala, ridden by Ruth Edge.
‘I’m not the best flying change rider,’ said Mary. I did fluff a couple of the changes, and I had to repeat the halt and move off.’ She then ran up 7.2 time faults on the steeplechase. With 1.2 penalties on an otherwise clear cross country round and one fence down in the showjumping, she finished on 59.6 penalties, which was 6.5 penalties below The Foreman.
Fifth was the grey Lenamore, who completed Badminton this year, with Caroline Powell of New Zealand. He was 14th after dressage, but four time faults on cross country and four showjumping faults improved his placing.
Sixth was Mr Pracatan, ridden by Andrew Hoy of Australia. They have been well placed at Badminton for the past three years and were one of only five combinations to finish the cross country still on their dressage score, but they hit three fences in the showjumping.
Polly Jackson and Limestone Rise, 6th at Kentucky last year and also 12th here, were the trail-blazers across country. They had a clear round with only 1.6 time penalties, which improved their placing from joint 23rd to 10th, and after lowering two showjumping fences they finished seventh, an improvement of five places on last year’s result. Polly had also entered the little coloured horse, Two for Joy, but withdrew him to compete at Blenheim, for which she was an individual reserve.
Both Andrew Nicholson and Phillip Dutton finished in the top ten with two horses. Duddles, Andrew’s other ride, came eighth, with eight showjumping faults to add to time faults on cross country and his dressage score. Amazing Odyssey, Phillip’s second ride, had won the Allentown three-star event earlier this year. He improved to 10th with twelve showjumping faults to add to only 1.2 time faults across country and a dressage score that had left him in 29th place.
Separating them in ninth place was Silence, ridden by Daniel Jocelyn of New Zealand for the Silence Syndicate, based in Berkshire. He completed the Athens Olympics and was one of only five horses to hit one showjumping fence.
The striking grey Liquid Ice and Rodney Powell were lying in eighth place until 17 showjumping faults pulled them down to 11th. Kristina Cook and the tail-swishing Captain Christie had finished in ninth place last year, and were lying sixth after dressage this year, but after nearly 17 cross country time faults and eight showjumping faults they had to settle for 12th.
Notable rounds included Midnight Dazzler and Richard Meade’s 22-year-old son Harry Meade, riding here for the first time. He had one time fault showjumping to add to time faults on steeplechase and cross country, but jumped clear throughout to finish in 13th place.
Winsome Adante, from the USA, was still in second place when he fell at the second element of Capability’s Cutting, and Kim Severson was taken to hospital with a sprained shoulder. This was the only bad fall of the day.
Captain Mark Phillips designed the cross country course, which left out Lion Bridge and ran the reverse way round from previous years, finishing uphill near the ‘Leaf Pit’. ‘It will be more difficult to get inside the time,’ he said. ‘There is no way to catch up in the last two minutes.’ The undulating terrain also made it more strenuous than a flat course.
In fact, the only other horses not to have time faults were Master Monarch, Andrew Hoy’s other ride, who was in sixth place until he was withdrawn with a bruised knee, and Riva Ruel, ridden by Sarah Cutteridge because his owner Tricia Price was sidelined by injury. The chestnut shot up from 15th place to 5th after cross country, but unfortunately collected 25 showjumping penalties to finish in 14th place.
The course was very attractively designed, with carved pigs in the NFU Farmyard and a wonderful witch and her hut between the two brush fences at Winner’s Avenue. A spectacular grey lag goose, sitting on her nest, formed the jump out of the Land Rover Trout Hatchery. This was the only fence that made the rider reps ask for an alternative, but in fact no-one who attempted the goose encountered problems. The alternative involved a big circle to enter the water a second time.
The fence that Captain Phillips expected to cause most problems was the Dairy Farmer’s Choice. After the initial oxer, there was a three-stride turn on undulating ground to a narrow log that was almost hidden on the approach. Good Enough, with John-Paul Sheffield, refused the first element before clearing the rest. River Rose and Peter Laidlaw, and Master Fred with Captain Richard Waygood both ran out at the log. Richard later fell off at the Pedigree Poser and retired.
The Ghost of Hamish, ridden by Peter Thomsen from Germany, had one of only four clear showjumping rounds. In spite of time faults on steeplechase and cross country, they was able to improve on their dressage position of equal 43rd to reach 16th place. Piggy French had a similar experience on the 15.2 dun Done To Order. They had the other showjumping clear round, and improved on their dressage position of equal 41st to finish 17th.
Leslie Law had gone into seventh place after dressage on Shear H20, but ran out at the eighth fence, Uncle Ben’s Kitchen, and retired two fences later. This was the 15-year-old grey’s final competition. Leslie also withdrew Shear L’Eau before starting, to replace Coup de Couer, who had a minor injury, at Blenheim.
After the showjumping, four packs of hounds paraded to tremendous cheers, then four grey police horses escorted in the winners.
Rosemary Cooper.
RESULTS. -
1, Ballincoola (William Fox-Pitt GBR), 50.4 penalties;
2, The Foreman (Phillip Dutton AUS), 53.1 penalties;
3, Lord Killinghurst (Andrew Nicholson NZL), 59.4 penalties;
4, Call Again Cavalier (Mary King GBR), 59.6 penalties;
5, Lenamore (Caroline Powell NZL), 61.3 penalties;
6, Mr Pracatan (Andrew Hoy AUS), 64.2 penalties;
7, Limestone Rise (Polly Jackson GBR), 67.0 penalties;
8, Duddles (Andrew Nicholson NZL), 67.6 penalties;
9, Silence (Daniel Jocelyn NZL), 68.9 penalties;
10, Amazing Odyssey (Phillip Dutton AUS), 72.5 penalties;
11, Liquid Ice (Rodney Powell GBR), 73.6 penalties;
12, Captain Christy (Kristina Cook GBR), 74.6 penalties;
13, Midnight Dazzler (Harry Meade GBR), 76.8 penalties;
14, Riva Ruel (Sarah Cutteridge GBR) 78.7 penalties;
15, Connigar Bay (Sam Griffiths AUS), 79.4 penalties.