Badminton results are in and this was a "selectors event" for the British, Australians and New Zealanders with both Australia and New Zealand having big entries for this most prestigious of Horse Trials and everyone working hard for a berth in their country Olympic Team for Athens in just four and a bit months time! Of the 80 entries, 50 were British, 10 Australian, 10 New Zealand, 4 Irish, 3 French and one apiece dor Sweden, Belgium and Germany.
The Irish were also represented although their elite squad were "under instruction" to front up for Punchestown which is being held from 3rd to 7th June, 2004 and they will be running an Olympic format class and no doubt many who perhaps were not "delighted" with their performance at Badminton will be making a last ditch effort at Punchestown on different horses no doubt.
So these two events, Badminton and Punchestown, will be the making or breaking of many eventers dreams for the past four years!
Australia is certainly under pressure as they work to break all records at Athens where they hope to take home a fourth gold medal in a row - is this pressure telling on the Australians? Certainly the selectors will be feeling the pressure as they try to make sure they pick the "right" team who will come home with the Gold - and this pressure will be coming from the fact that Australia has such a strong contingent of riders at the elite level and they are well matched with exceptional top level horses - this is a "nice" problem to have but still a headache no doubt for the Selectors.
The winners purse of GBP40,000 and GPB30,000 for second and GPB20,000 for third added another reason for these riders to "give it their all"!
The Dressage phase at Badminton saw the Australian's setting a challenge to the rest of the field with five combinations being in the top 10 but things came unstuck on the cross country course.
Andrew Nicholson for New Zealand was determined to try and take this prestigious title and with his lovely dressage test he sat in first place after this phase. His horse, Lord Killinghurst is an English-bred locally owned gelding who placed 3rd in 2003 at this event and then had a long spell but watching him on the cross country course there is no doubt he has come back very strongly however towards the end of the course the horse looked seriously tired and Andrew was visibly nursing the horse through the last third of the course. There is no doubt that it was greatly due to Andrew's skill on the cross country course that this horse completed as well as he did and they found themselves in 2nd position when the last rider came home. Nicholson was working hard to win this title, which he has never done to date!
Andrew Hoy, Australia's triple gold medallist and the very talented Mr Practacan, sitting in equal 4th after the dressage, rode superbly around this very difficult course. After three days and nights of rain the course was made particularly difficult because it was now boggy and slippery and many riders expressed their concerns, Andrew being one of them! In an interview prior to going on course Hoy said he was not going out to "break any records because the course is very dangerous due to the downpour of rain". It was very obvious that Andrew Hoy was riding very much with "his head" throughout the course and he was, as always fabulous to watch - sitting so still in the saddle with his wealth of experience showing through over a course which obviously caused him concern before even riding through the start flags. Hoy is another of the top Event riders who has never won this title and his first ride at Badminton was in 1979.
Bumble (aka Marie-Louise) Thomas riding for Britain was a rider looking to impress the selectors in her quest for Athens selection and surely after this event she would be feeling fairly confident with her gelding The Psephologist (which for those who didn't know means "one who studies elections") - although her dressage test may not have set the world on fire she climbed from 14th after it to 4th after a dream cross country ride and so was well in with a chance if she had a good showjumping round.
Pippa Funnell had two rides at Badminton this year and after a dream season during 2003 she came in as the defending champion for the Badminton title and was also the favourite but as so often happens in the eventers world things went horribly wrong on the cross country course for Pippa. Her first ride was aboard Viceroy, one of two stallions competing and they were looking good until they got to the Huntsman Close - coming in to the gate which was the first part of this complex the horse seemed to drop a front leg which caused him to tip over the fence and hit the ground on the other side and it looked distinctly like he had stepped on Pippa. Funnell, being a very tough competitor was determined to ride her second mount but stewards were not prepared to allow this unless she was xrayed and so a helicopter chaffeured her to Bristol hospital - then off course there was concern as to whether she would make it back in time for her second ride, this time aboard Cornerman.
It turned out that Pippa had been "studded" through her left arm when Viceroy came down but luckily no stitches were needed and all other checks came up clean and Pippa was rushed back to Badminton by car after a tetanus needle, which she laughingly said "was worse than falling"!
Unfortunately for Pippa though things didn't improve with Cornerman when she came to grief, hitting the mud again, at exactly the same fence in an almost identical situation - and so Pippa remounted and jumped a couple of fences for both her own and the horses confidence and then retired.....to fight another day!
Lucinda Green, Chief of British Eventing Selectors, commented after the event that where Pippa was luckier than many of the other riders looking for selection was that she has "a stable full of Olympic level horses at home waiting their turn" - so don't write her off for Athens was the message which came through very clearly!
Australian Matt Ryan and Bonza Puzzle came out full of intent and rode well until they had a runout which could well have cost him Olympic selection and he dropped from equal 7th after dressage to 29th after cross country so his chances of being in the top 10 looked very slim, if there at all!
William Fox-Pitt for Britain was looking for two things - a first time win at Badminton and also qualification for Athens aboard Tamarillo, the 12yo part bred Arab, and so he was going to full of determination! He started well with a super dressage test which saw him in equal second place with Pippa Funnell and Cornerman and they ended up out of the competition. Fox-Pitt and Tamarillo looked superb around the cross country and looked "full of jump" and when they came through the finish flags the crowd went wild knowing that this was improving his chances of his first Badminton win combined with Olympic qualififcation which would surely rate him very highly with the selectors! After cross country Fox-Pitt moved into first place and so it was going to be a tough tussle between himself and New Zealand's Nicholson.
Megan Jones and Kirby Park Irish Hallmark, known as Paddy at home, were a first time combination to Badminton and they were looking super in the Dressage, finishing in 6th placing which thrilled her but sadly her Olympic dream was put to rest for 2004 when she had a trip at the Pony Club Sunken Road and Megan hit the gravel giving her huge penalties and seeing her sadly placed last in the final wrap up.
John Marsden, the oldest competitor in the field at 56 years of age, rode superbly and did a great cross country ride but being in 18th position after dressage and collecting penalties on cross country he was sitting in 20th after cross country and his final placing was 24th, which was highly respectable at such a tough event.
Kate Hewlett and the stallion Internet for New Zealand would not have been thrilled with their equal 29th placing after dressage but they more than made up for it with a super cross country ride which saw them sitting in 12th position. This gorgeous stallion was giving the fences plenty of air and he still had plenty of steam coming through the finish flags - no doubt her New Zealand supporters will be celebrating this evening!
Bill Levitt, another of the Australian riders, gave the crowd a spectacular "save" when towards the end of the course Minuto caught a leg over the fence and Bill looked in danger of falling - but in true "Aussie style" he clung to the horses side, hanging on to his girth and looking more like a trick rider than an eventer and managed to stay aboard, avoiding the dreaded "fall penalties" - but he decided to withdraw after the cross country phase!
The showjumping phase of Horse Trials always amazes me - I recognise that the horses are stretched to the limit and this last phase can make or break them - but the track at Badminton was a flowing and open course with the fences not sitting tall and yet there were only 5 clear rounds from the 50 starters left in the cmpetition. There did not appear to be any tricky lines and certainly there was a very low degree of technicality - and having seen the troubles at WEG in 2002 where the track was tall and technical I would have thought that the eventers would have done more with their showjumping esepcially in an Olympic year - but perhaps the issue here was that with the cross country course being so very taxing due to the huge amount of rain that had fallen, the horses were just lacking in the 'petrol in the tank" department as the rails that the top 10 riders had were "careless rails" rather than glaring errors or inability to jump the fences.
The packed stands were given plenty of value for money as the final placings were far from over until the final fence had been jumped in the showjumping arena - and with 6 to go Sam Griffiths for Australia was in the lead with his four fault showjumping round but after Bumble Thomas's round his drop down the rankings started but no doubt he was delighted to finish in 6th place on Private Colin and was just one place behind triple Olympic Gold medallist and fellow Australian, Andrew Hoy who finished in 5th place. One would have to take an educated guess and say that Andrew Hoy and Sam Griffiths will be on the Athens team.
The four top placings each had two rails down with William Fox-Pitt being last to go - and after Andrew Nicholson dropped two fences Fox-Pitt knew that he had three fences in hand and by finishing with two down he won the event by 4.6penalties - a narrow margin in any language and took out his first Badminton title in a long and distinguished career - and of course it means that Tamarillo is also qualified for Athens so again an educated guess would tell us that Fox-Pitt will be "present and accounted for" on the British team to Athens. Andrew Nicholson and Lord Killinghurst will no doubt also be at Athens for New Zealand and Bumble Thomas would surely be joing Fox-Pitt on the British team as will James Robinson possibly.
The other Austraoian placings will be a tough call from the selectors with so many talented combinations still at home in Australia and let's not write off Sammi McLeod and Enchanted who finished a very respectable 16th place in their first foray into International competion away from home.
For New Zealand you would have to also take a guess that Caroline Powell and Softly Softly might get a berth on the New Zealand team with their 14th placing and Kate Hewlett and the stallion Internet as well with their 15th placing making three - so the other two are there to be picked from a number of excellent combinations for this great eventing nation as well.
France saw two of their riders through the finish flags after showjumping and they were Gilles Viricel in 1Parent in 28th spot. Belgium's only entrant, Karin Donckers finished in 32nd place while Germany's only entry, Stefanie Thompson was withdrawn after Phase C and Sweden's lone entry, Anna Hilton retired on Cross Country.
We will be bringing you all the action from Punchestown, complete with photographs from June 3rd to June 6th and we will be bringing you the news from the Olympic format class so keep your computers set to www.jumpingaround.com for this great event.
