Christopher Burton
Despite being one of the last to go on the course, when the ground conditions were deteriorating, Chris showed all his class and produced the second fastest round of the day.
“He gave me a great ride he’s a beautiful horse and he’s got all the gallop, all the scope in the world, so thanks to Dirk Schrade for finding him for us. An even bigger thanks to the owners Carolyn Townsend and Sue Lawson who are here having a wonderful time. I’m very lucky.”
“I went and sat in the riders’ tent and all I did was make myself nervous. I said to my wife ‘shall we just curl up in bed and have the afternoon off?’”
In similar fashion to yesterday’s dressage, the Antipodean riders hold seven places out of the top ten, with Tim Price sitting 11 penalties behind Chris. After being held, following the breaking of a frangible pin, Tim and his Rio ride Ringwood Sky Boy cruised home in impressive style.
Tim Price
“I know Sky Boy inside out and he’s been around here, we’ve had a good time here before, so I was actually looking forward to the round. He coped with it very well, he grew a leg when he needed to, he’s found better balance and wasn’t bothered by the going.”
Tim’s wife, Jonelle, produced the quickest round of the day with Classic Moet – finishing four seconds over the optimum time and the New Zealand riders now hold second, third, fourth and sixth place overnight.
Andrew Nicholson retained his third place from the dressage phase and was quick to praise his long term partner Nereo.
Andrew Nicholson
“I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for him. Avebury [three time Burghley winner] was lovely to ride, he was very gentle but Nereo is a big, strong horse and always found everything a little bit harder than Avebury. I’ve lugged him all around the world and whenever he has to, he’s come up with the goods for me and I’m very proud of him. A couple of times I wasn’t in the place I wanted to be, the Dairy Mound was one of them, but he ran his job very well.”
The heavens opened at midday and the competitors from then had to ride with feel and self-preservation, rather than chasing for the time. Several rounds were not incident free, including for Bettina Hoy who did well to get Designer 10 home clear and comparatively fast.
Bettina Hoy
“It was tough. I think I rode a little bit backwards to start with and I felt intimidated I have to admit. What a horse – I had some really sticky moments and he just kept fighting, he kept focusing and concentrating on the fences.”
Bill Levett, who is in ninth place overnight on Improvise, concurred:
“It’s a very tough track. The ground is taking a little bit and some of the experienced guys have been around and they said throw the watch away and don’t use your horse up too early because there won’t be anything left at the finish.”
Oliver Townend, who had a mixed day, is the best of the British in 10 th place on Samuel Thomas II. He also jumped the first jumping clear of the day with Dromgurrihy Blue, with 25.2 time penalties but sadly retired his best placed ride, MHS King Joules, after the horse tired.
Oliver Townend
“It’s Burghley and the terrain is massive, the fences are massive, and where it isn’t massive it’s unbelievably angled. This is as tough as its ever been.”
In total, 16 combinations were eliminated, including Andrew Hoy and The Blue Frontier who were sixth after the dressage, and 12 retired. Sam Griffiths suffered misfortunate when his stirrup broke early on in the course and he eventually retired.
Course designer Captain Mark Phillips admitted in the press conference that he was disappointed with the number of horse falls, alongside some of the riding.
“It was harder work for the riders than I thought it was going to be. I think all the combinations required a forward ride when going in, which is why we have got these three riders sitting here.”
“For me the disappointing thing was the number of falls we had today. You look at the Trout Hatchery and 10 horses landed there normally and then three in a row fell over. With the number of incidences, the riders weren’t actually there for the horses.”
Equiratings quickly computed that this year’s Burghley was the toughest since 2004, with 41% of the field jumping clear compared to 62% last year.
The final horse inspection will take place at 9am tomorrow in the main arena, with the lower placed riders jumping at 10.25am and the top 24 at 2.25pm. BBC will cover the top placed riders, as well as today’s highlights, from 3-5pm.
1) Chris Burton/ Nobilis 18 – 33.4
2) Tim Price/Ringwood Sky Boy – 44.9
3) Andrew Nicholson/Nereo – 47.2
4) Jonelle Price/Classic Moet -50.1
5) Bettina Hoy/ Designer 10 – 53.7
6) Mark Todd/ NZB Campino – 59
7) Caroline Powell/Onwards and Upwards – 59.4
8) Cedric Lyard/Cadeau Du Roi – 59.6
9) Bill Levett /Improvise – 62.5
10) Oliver Townend/ Samuel Thomas II – 63
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