It was a day of sunshine, showers and super scores on dressage day one of the Defender Bramham International Horse Trials. In the showcase Defender CCI4*-L section, Sarah Bullimore swooped to take the lead with homebred Corimiro when last to go with a 24.6 and in the CCI4*-S, France’s Sebastien Cavaillon tops the day one podium riding Elipso de la Vigne on 26.9.
Defender CCI4*-L
Double Olympic team gold medallist Tom McEwen set the early pace in the Defender CCI4*-L section with James and Jo Lambert’s Irish-bred Cecelia Cobra, who’s making his long format debut at Bramham. Their score of 33.4 when fifth to go set the benchmark for others to meet.
The duo held first spot up until the lunchbreak loomed and it was the turn of Surrey rider Tom Jackson with Helen Scott’s Hawk Eye. The tall bay gelding was at home in the Defender arena here at Bramham having been here twice before with former rider Kristina Hall-Jackson and that clearly gave him confidence as the duo pulled out a 32.7 to go top of the roster.
Romeike swoops at the lunchbreak
Tom’s lead was however short lived as the next to go, Swedish rider Louise Romeike, riding Madeleine Brugman, Hinrich Romeike and her own eye-catching grey Caspian 15 spectacularly swept into the lead when last to go before the break. They were the first combination to post the first sub-30 score of the day with 27.4, with the Ground Jury of Christian Steiner (President), Nikki Herbert and James Rooney all in agreement with less than a percent between their scores.
Bullimore produces a dramatic end to the day
The final session of the day was a repeat performance as Louise could rest easy in the lead until the two penultimate riders came into play. The last but one combination Barnie Brotherton, a new member of the World Class Podium Potential Pathway, with Naomi Brotherton’s DHI King Nelson arrived at Bramham brimming with confidence on the back of their senior team debut at Bicton just a few weeks ago when they were part of the victorious Nations Cup team. That confidence shone with a polished performance in their first attempt at a CCI4*-L with 29.4 to go second behind Louise.
All eyes were then on the final rider of the day, Sarah Bullimore and the next of her homebred chestnut dynasty, Corimiro. With a yard of talent courtesy of her 2015 Senior European Championship partner and now foundation mare Lilly Corinne, ‘Milo’ is the next to follow in his mother’s footsteps and with a podium finish less than a month ago at the Belsay CCI4*-S, Sarah felt he was ready to come to Braham.
The test began brightly with the first halt earning nine, eight and eight from the judges and there was not a single score below seven for the reminder of the test. As it began, the test ended with eight, eight and nine from the judges – a super end and a final score of 24.6 to take a 2.8 penalty lead.
“He was just fabulous!” beamed Sarah of her homebred like a proud parent. “He’s only a nine-year-old and got here yesterday and was a bit ‘hot to trot’ so I thought perhaps he’s going to be a bit wild. To be fair, he loves an atmosphere, he loves crowds when we did the familiarisation yesterday, all he wanted to do was walk along the far side and look at all the trade stands in the crowd.
“He loves it busy and actually almost the busier it is, he’ll relax more. He’s a real active person but then when he knows it’s busy, he’ll go and sleep so he’s yeah, he’s quite cool in an atmosphere. He’s just a dream. I’m so lucky to, you know, jump out of bed and be able to ride him every morning. He is an absolutely pleasure to train and he just, you know, he would be a little bit hot like his mum, but in a good way, he’s got a fantastic brain and he just wants to do the right thing, he’s a pleasure to train,” she said.
With an eye on Saturday’s cross-country test, what does Sarah make of Andy Heffernan’s debut Bramham course?
“I think he’s done a fabulous job. It looks really, really good. He’s not softened and taken away from Bramham, but just in a couple of places made, it slightly kinder than it may have been in in previous years. There are enough questions out there and I think he’s done a fantastic job, and I’m really excited to get out there on Saturday and give it our best shot.”
The excitement in the Bullimore household is double fold as Sarah explained; We’re actually watching monitors at home as well at the moment because we’ve got twin full siblings of Milo due this week, which wasn’t really great planning. I’m hoping with the cooler weather and the showers that they’ll at least cross their legs until we get home on Sunday night, or Monday!”
So, could it be a double champagne celebration for Sarah this week? There’s the small matter of another full day of dressage tomorrow and plenty of jumping to tackle first but what a fairytale Bramham this might be for the Bullimores.
Defender CCI4*-S
It was a busy morning for Tom Jackson as before he played a key role in the Defender CCI4*-L top placings, he was in the arena bright and early with HH Moonwalk, owned by Hambro Sport Horses and a sprightly 32.0 set the bar for the rest to match. Just a few horses later, renowned dressage specialist Alex Hua Tian, a Bramham winner in 2016, lived up to the billing with Kate Willis’s Chicko with a polished performance to score 30.1 and put the Chinese flag at the top of the leaderboard.
Lucky double delivers
Like Alex and Chicko, Tom Woodward and Low Moor Lucky find themselves at Bramham after their Badminton CCI5* plans didn’t quite go to plan. Tom and ‘Lucky’ did have a dream start to their debut at the iconic Gloucestershire fixture when they found themselves atop the leaderboard after their dressage so hopes were high that they could get their Bramham campaign underway in a similar fashion.
The hope became reality and Tom, a World Class Podium Potential Pathway rider, expertly guided a horse who he’s partnered from Pony Club to five star around the arena to impress the judging panel. The final score of 28.1 was the first to go under 30 with overall percentage scores ranging from 75% to 68.96% and the Gloucestershire rider found him self in familiar territory leading the dressage at a prestigious competition.
Bramham regular Piggy March was the next likely challenger to the lead with Susie Wood’s Cooley Goodwood and while the striking grey showed some great work, their score of 31.5 wasn’t enough to topple Tom but it looked good enough to give them at least a top eight finish.
French flair takes top spot
The final rider to go before the afternoon break was seasoned French rider Sebastien Cavaillon with Elipso de la Vigne, who is by the prolific jumping sire Arko. Sebastien has been to Bramham before and despite not having a happy trip last time, still rates the event as a favorite to prove your horse. The duo was amongst the French team reserves for last summer’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games and have a place at the FEI Eventing European Championships at Blenheim in Oxfordshire this September in their sights.
A superb 26.9 from the Ground Jury of Judy Hancock (President), Tim Downes and Xavier Le Sauce rocketed them into to the lead, relegating Tom and Lucky to second. However, they sit best U25 combination, a national title he’d very much like to take. Alex is third and Piggy fourth while Tom Jackson completes the top five.
Sebastien commented; “It was a nice test, my horse was a little tense with the people. He’s very good, nice paces and I was very happy with him. We bought him as a five year old and have brought him up the levels from young horses to four star – and he’s won twice at the level.
“I’ve had a first look at the course and it’s, well, very Bramham! It’s big with long gallops which is good. In France we often have courses with many twists but this is better for the horses. It’s a big test with lots of efforts and ups and downs, a good test.”
Friday dressage finale
Our final dressage day gets underway at 09.30 in the morning, with the Defender CCI4*-S resuming first and the Defender CCI4*-L follows at 10:30. In the Top-Spec Arena it’s all eyes on the equine eventing stars of the future with four and five-year-old qualifiers for the Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse Championships.
You can follow all the action with times, scores and all the info via the Defender Bramham International Horse Trials app – just download from your preferred app store. You can catch up with on socials too – we’re on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
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Sarah Bullimore and Corimiro (main image) © Eventing Times
ARTICLE IMAGES: © 1st Class Images