Piggy March has soared to the top of the leaderboard in CCI4*-S section C, sponsored by Project Pony, at Burgham International Horse Trials (24-27 July).
Piggy posted an exceptional dressage mark of 19.8 aboard Jayne McGivern’s lovely grey stallion Halo to overtake Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent, who go into Saturday’s showjumping and cross-country in second place on 23.9. Izzy Taylor and Barrington Alice are third on 24.5.
Piggy said: “Halo was spot on – fabulous in his body and brain. He’s really come on; he’s beginning to feel more established, stronger, with more consistency and strength to his body and his work. He’s always felt very special and I’m delighted he is starting to get the marks that correspond to what he feels like.”
CCI4*-S showjumping starts at 8am tomorrow morning at the Northumbrian event, with cross-country commencing at 9am. The cross-country can be watched live on ClipMyHorse.tv.
Piggy added: “The cross-country looks very inviting with some good questions. This is Halo’s first run since the CCI5* at Luhmühlen; he feels fit and well and I am looking forward to tomorrow.”
There was no change to Thursday’s top three in Holme Dodsworth Metals CCI4*-S section D. Caroline Powell is in first place with a score of 23.3 aboard Nicholas and Fiona Lambert’s 10-year-old Legally Grey. Caroline has half a penalty in hand over Paris 2024 Olympic team gold medallists Tom McEwen and JL Dublin. Izzy Taylor is also third in this section, this time on SBH Big Wall with 24.4.
Double Olympic team gold medallist Tom McEwen proved he has another exciting young horse on his hands after winning WL Straughan & Son Ltd CCI3*-S section A on Brookfield Danny De Muze. The seven-year-old, who is owned by Alison Swinburn and John and Chloe Perry, added just 0.8 of a cross-country time-fault to his leading dressage score of 20.8 to stay ahead of Sweden’s Therese Viklund and Sella (22.9). New Zealander Jesse Campbell finished third on his Tokyo Olympics ride Diachello, also with a finishing score of 22.9.
Tom said: “He’s been amazing, to be honest. Piggy [March, from whom Tom has inherited the ride] has done a fantastic job producing him, as only she could do. He’s only done one intermediate and then this [three-star], which I thought was quite a strong track. I know the courses here all jump beautifully, but it was probably the punchiest one I’ve seen, so I was really pleased with him.
“He’s perfect – a really placid character at home who puts everything into it when he comes out at a competition. He did a stunning test here, handled the showjumping well and was very cool across country.”
Elizabeth Barratt, 19, headed up AW Jenkinson CCI3*-S section B on Barratt Eventing’s Big Boss Melo. The pair completed on their second-placed dressage score of 26.5 to win the class, which also acted as the final selection trial for the British team for the European Young Rider Championships in Poland in August. They are the reigning Young Rider National Champions, having won at Bicton in June.
Elizabeth said: “He’s been amazing all week. I was sp pleased with his test, because he can get quite tense and stressy, but he was really with me and I couldn’t have asked for much more from him. He jumped like his always does – amazingly. He has his own unique technique, but he tries so hard and gets the job done. We were held at the start of the cross-country, which hasn’t happened to me with him before, so that was a new experience, but it didn’t seem to bother him at all.
Fourteen-year-old Big Boss Melo was bought by the Barratts from France a year ago.
“It took us a bit of time to adjust to each other – he had been ridden by a man over there – and he is big, strong and bold-moving, but we seem to have gelled quite now,” said Elizabeth, who is very much hoping for a first British team appearance next month.
Jemima Howden – also on the young rider squad short-list – took the runner-up spot on her father David’s Van Kaunitz on her dressage mark of 28.1, while yet another highly competitive under-21, Finn Healy, was third on Greannanstown Monbeg Joe. In fact, the next five placings in this section were all filled by British young rider team hopefuls – Isabelle Cook (Mexican Law, fourth), Josh Levett (This Ones On You, fifth and Huberthus AC, eighth), Anya Strilkowski (K, sixth) and Elizabeth Barratt, (Ride For Thais Chaman Dumontceau, seventh).
Saturday and Sunday at Burgham not only offer top-class sport, but also great fun for families, friends and children. There is a fun dog show on both days, have-a-go dog agility, and hobby horses for children to “ride”, unaffiliated showjumping on Saturday and a Thoroughbred and Ex-Racehorse Show on Sunday, alongside grassroots eventing classes.
Burgham also features an excellent range of tradestands and lots of delicious, locally-produced food and drink and public bars. It is situated in beautiful, tranquil Northumbrian countryside not far from the A1 between Morpeth and Alnwick.
Visit www.burghaminternationalhorsetrials.co.uk to find out more and to buy tickets.
All the cross-country from Burgham is being shown live on ClipMyHorse.tv – visit www.clipmyhorse.tv/en_GB/ to watch.
IMAGES © 1st Class Images