At the end of a cross race which shook up the rankings, Tim Price took the lead in the CCI 5*-L Badminton with his faithful Vitali. Eighth in the dressage test, the legendary William Fox-Pitt moved up to second place on Grafennacht. By achieving the best cross of the day, the Irish Lucy Latta experienced a lightning rise from forty-sixth to provisional third place in the company of RCA Patron Saint. Leader after the dressage, Rosalind Canter preferred to give up during the middle distance test with the reins of Izilot DHI. Thirty-fifth before the second inspection of the horses and the horse show, Luc Château and Viens du Mont form the only French couple still in the running.
As could be expected, the CCI 5*-L Badminton cross had a big influence on the ranking of this English classic. Victorious last year with Lordships Graffalo and leading the competition after dressage alongside Izilot DHI, Rosalind Canter preferred to give up after suffering a disobedience on obstacle 10 and having triggered the safety device of this obstacle frangible. Bubby Upton, who had presented the second best test of the competition, triggered the device of frangible obstacle number 21 and added another 15.6 penalties for overtime to his total, now equal to 53.9 points, i.e. the tenth eighth place. Taking advantage of these setbacks and having only added four penalties to his 27.7 in dressage, Tim Price regained the lead of the competition with Vitali. “He gave me everything he had today”declared the New Zealander. “Recently he has shown himself to be quite good at the horse show (where the gelding has often failed in the past, editor’s note) and I more or less have a plan. He’s really in great shape, he feels good so I hope that will help us tomorrow, but I’m already going to enjoy my performance today.”
If Tim Price is one of the biggest names in world eventing, having been world number one for a long time, it is a true legend of the discipline who is in second place this evening in the person of William Fox-Pitt. Riding the good Grafennacht, who gave him second place in the CCI 5*-L in Elkton last fall, the man who has already won Badminton twice finished his cross country with only 2.4 penalties! Eighth after dressage, he totaled 33 penalties before the horse show.
“Grafennacht is a great mare – anyone could ride her because she always agrees to everything”said William Fox-Pitt. “She always knows where she’s going and she’s a perfect mount for an old man like me. I was optimistic for today because she has never had a cross country incident.” Placed just behind William Fox-Pitt before the last test, Lucy Latta undoubtedly experienced the greatest comeback of this Badminton, since she was forty-sixth after the cross! The Irishwoman, who is at the start for the first time on the grounds of the Dukes of Beaufort, achieved the best cross of this edition of the English classic by receiving only 0.4 penalties with RCA Patron Saint, who therefore now 37.2 penalties on the clock. “I instilled a good rhythm because I knew my horse would last the distance”said the twenty-seven-year-old rider. “My horse, ‘Paddy’ was phenomenal and gave me a great feeling on the Vicarage Vee (one of Badminton’s emblematic obstacles, editor’s note). He’s a good show horse, but he’s never faced such a long, tough cross country, so we’ll see how it goes tomorrow.”
On the French side, only Luc Château is still in the race this Saturday evening. Having suffered a disobedience at the very end of the course, on obstacle 26, with Viens du Mont, he also collected 17.2 points for time exceeded and totaled 80.3 penalties, synonymous with thirty-fifth provisional place. Gaspard Maksud preferred to abandon after Kan-Do 2 triggered the safety devices of two frangible obstacles in the first third of the course. Florian Ganneval and Arthur Marx were eliminated with Blue Bird de Beaufour and Church’Ile. In total, only forty-one of the sixty-seven couples who completed the dressage are still in the running after the long-distance test.
2024-05-11 20:32:54
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