Chris Burton wins the British Open at Festival of Eventing

Photo: HRH The Princess Royal presents Christopher Burton with his trophy with Katie Page-Harvey

Chris Burton has won the Magic Millions British Open CIC3* on Polystar l at the Festival of Eventing at Gatcombe Park.

Fast cross-country

Chris moved up from second place after the dressage, following a clear round in the showjumping and a fast clear on the cross-country.

Oliver Townend was in the lead after the first phase, with an impressive score of 19pen, but dropped down the leaderboard when Ulises had two fences in the showjumping. This put Chris in pole position going into the final phase.

Living up to his name as the fastest cross-country rider in the world, Chris was more than nine seconds quicker than the rest of the field.

‘Horse of a lifetime’

“I find you ride better when you’re in that position as leader, but Polystar makes me look good – he’s unbelievable,” said Chris, who also won back in 2015 on TS Jamaimo.

Izzy Taylor rode beautifully on Be Touchable, but had no hope of catching Chris. She finished in second place, but won the trophy for best British rider.

“When I look back, I think Be Touchable will be a horse of a lifetime. I love riding him,” she said.

Ludwig Svennersta was third on Stinger, ahead of Emily King who also won the best under-25 and best first-time completion prize for finishing fourth on Dargun. Oliver was fifth on Ulises.

First Festival title

In other competitions, Tom McEwen claimed his first Festival title in the Smith and Williamson Intermediate Championship riding Vicky Bates and David Myers’ CHF Cooliser.

Francis Whittington took the title in the Dodson & Horrell British Novice Championship with DHI Purple Rain, owned by Beryl Chapman, Belinda and Amy Drummond and Ro Audley.

The British Eventing Trophy for Advanced Horses was won by Elizabeth Power and her own and Katie Horgan’s Soladoun.

Andrew Downes and Jane Moss’s Gold Nugget were crowned champions in the ROR/NFT Retrained Racehorse Event Championship.