Oliver Townend leads after cross country at MARS Badminton Horse Trials

There was a dramatic finish to cross-country day at the MARS Badminton Horse Trials when the top two riders, Oliver Townend, with  Cooley Rosalent, and Ros Canter with Lordships Graffalo, were both given 15 penalties for  missing going through a flag. There was a sense of relief when the penalties were removed from both combinations after the ground jury examined video footage.

“Cooley Rosalent is still relatively babyish at 11 and she is a sensitive mare – the opposite of Ballaghmor Class and shy with people,” said Oliver, “but the more the questions came, the more she enjoyed it, and when we were through the Lake, I thought ‘now we’re away’.

“It was a cleverly flowing course where you couldn’t afford to be behind the clock and the mistakes that happened weren’t alarming, which is what we want.”

Ros described riding Michele and Archie Saul’s Lordships Graffalo (“Walter”) as “a privilege”. She said: “He absolutely loves it. When he sees a fence he gets into a great balance and he never seems to tire. I wouldn’t class myself as a fast rider, but I seem to be speedy on Walter.”

Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight are in third place, a fence behind Ros. Gemma who may have an advantage tomorrow because she spends a lot of time doing pure show jumping, described Chris and Lisa Stone’s Chilli Knight as “such a genuine little horse – if he sees a fence with flags, he will take me towards it. He has come out of today smiling his head off.” However, Gemma has only a 0.3 penalty lead over Ireland’s Austin O’Connor,

Harry Meade, who also had flag penalties rescinded, repeated his feat of a fortnight ago at Kentucky by steering both his rides, Superstition and Cavalier Crystal, around inside the time. He is now placed in fifth with Superstition and seventh with Cavalier Crystal.

Six  riders finished within the optimum time of 11 minutes 40 seconds:

Rosalind Canter with LORDSHIPS GRAFFALO 🇬🇧
Gemma Stevens with CHILLI KNIGHT 🇬🇧
Austin O’Connor with COLORADO BLUE 🇮🇪
Harry Meade with SUPERSTITION 🇬🇧
Christoph Wahler with D’ACCORD FRH 🇩🇪
Harry Meade with CAVALIER CRYSTAL [ISH] 🇬🇧

There were in total 44 clear rounds, including several from Badminton first-timers, and 60 completions from the 79 cross-country starters. This was a great result from Eric Winter’s course. Big and bold, but very fair.

Ireland’s debutante rider, Ian Cassells with Bridget McGing’s Master Point, climbed into the Top 10 after adding just 3.6 time penalties to their dressage score.

Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue

Tomorrow’s show jumping finale promises to be a tense affair as Oliver Townend does not have a fence in hand over Ros Canter.

Tomorrow’s final horse inspection takes place at 8.30am and show jumping for the lower-placed horses will start at 11.30am.