Badminton 2015 cross-country analysis
It wasn’t anywhere near as dramatic as 2014, but nor was it as lacking in influence as in 2013. It was course designer Giuseppe Della Chiesa’s second year designing the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, so did he get it right?
Steady start
Before the starter had even counted down the first competitor this morning, the verdict on the course was that it wouldn’t be as tough a test as it had been 12 months ago.
Pathfinder Paul Tapner jumped an easy clear to add 5.6 time penalties to his dressage score, which suggested the fences were going to be pretty straightforward, but the time might be a little tricky to get.
Nicola Wilson, on first ride One Two Many, finished in a similar vein, but then Ireland’s Joseph Murphy made the time with ease – suggesting the clock wasn’t going to be that hard to beat after all.
Clear followed clear, with most riders gathering no more than a handful of time penalties. After the massive upsets caused by cross-country in 2014, had the course gone too far in the other direction?
First faults
The first rider to register any jumping faults was Dutch rider Andrew Heffernan. He ran into difficulty at the double of hedges at the Mirage Pond (18abc) – a fence that proved to be somewhat troublesome – and elected to retire.
Mark Todd and Leonidas II soon got things back on track, finishing just 3sec over the time despite a slightly sticky moment at the Lake, and then Andrew Nicholson came in on dressage leader Nereo.
Looking the epitome of cool, the Kiwi sauntered round the cross-country to finish clear within the time. Not even an hour into the competition and we already knew who would be in the lead at the end of day one. He cemented the deal by finishing clear in the time on second ride Calico Bay to move him up to seventh place as well.
Out of step
Once Nicholson and Nereo had sealed the deal, the next rider to run into trouble did so at the Lake – which was to be the second most influential fence of the day. Francis Whittington and Fernhill Highlight lost momentum dropping into the water, tripped up the step and refused at the Willow Wave, opting to retire. Sadly things didn’t go quite to plan on his second ride Hasty Imp, who got 20pen at the Mirage Pond.
Beanie Sturgis and Lebowski were also caught out by the step up out of the Lake and ended up with 20pen. Oliver Wilmot came off Cool Dancer at this point, as did Julie Tew (Lord of the Owls), who had already picked up 20pen in ISH Studbook Huntsman’s Close.
First-timer Niklas Bschorer also came right out of the saddle at this point, inflating his air jacket, though he was able to stay on board and carried on for a few fences. In the end his efforts were in vain as he had been eliminated for using the Willow Wave jump to push himself back into the plate.
Incidentally, air jackets went off for two other riders today. Michael Owen (The Highland Prince) continued for a few fences after setting his off; while Camilla Speirs’ also went off but slowly deflated – she was able to continue, though she picked up 20pen at the Sense Silver Birch fence (25 & 26). This fence was also where Flora Harris, 13th after dressage, picked up 20pen on Amazing VIII.
Soaked
A number of riders got a total soaking at the Lake – something we haven’t seen much for some years (much to the disappointment of all the waiting photographers). Tina Cook and De Novo News had an unpleasant looking splash from the initial drop into the water, as did Gary Parsonage (Sligo Luckyvalier) and Andrew Hoy (Rutherglen). Hoy had a particularly soggy day, unfortunately, having already come off first ride Lanfranco at the Gatehouse New Pond (20).
The final of four water complexes, the Gatehouse New Pond, took several scalps. Michael Owen retired here after picking up 20pen here, as did first-timer Rose Carnegie (Landine), while Ecuador’s Nicolas Wettstein, picked up 20pen here and another 20pen at the Sense Silver Birch (25 & 26). Caroline Powell got a drenching here when falling with Onwards And Upwards.
Toughest fence
But it was the third water complex that caused the most trouble – the Mirage Pond (18abc). Not that the wet stuff itself caused upset, but the one-strided double of hedges on the far side of the water certainly did.
Those caught out included Andrew Heffernan (Millthyme Corolla), Laurence Hunt (Wie Donna’s Neiiuewmoed), Giovanni Ugulotti (Stilo Kontika), Louise Harwood (Mr Potts), Nana Dalton (Absolut Opposition) and Joseph Murphy on second ride Electric Cruise. Dee Hankey got eliminated at this point on Chequers Playboy for hitting a flag, while Craig Nicolai picked up 20pen here before his horse Just Ironic fell just a few from home at fence 27, a jump that otherwise caused no issues.
Easy start
The first few jumps of any course are usually straightforward and today was no exception – the first five jumps were incident free.
Only Julie Tew picked up 20pen at fence 6, and the ISH Studbook at Huntsman’s Close (fence 8ab) – which had been quite tricky last year when it came near the end of the course – jumped very well. Christopher Burton survived a very sticky moment here to jump clear within the time, only to find out later he’d been given 20pen for crossing his tracks at this point.
Fence nine was a nice let up fence, while the Outlander Lower Lake, the first of the four water jumps, went without mishap.
Middle breather
After the Lake there was a bit of a let up with the KBIS Garden Table, and the Swindon Designer Outlet Mound – a real tricky fence last year – didn’t cause a single penalty all day.
Despite being 3m wide at the base and 2m wide at the top, the FEI Classics Stick Pile jumped like a little log; as did the straightforward PHEV Oxer at fence 19 and the huge Rolex Grand Slam Hedge.
The Shogun Hollow (22) didn’t give any trouble either, then there was long uphill gallop to the World Horse Welfare Garden Gates, which required careful jumping. Plenty of horses rattled them and there was some rather interesting steering here but no one faulted.
The Wadworth Barrells (24) were fine and then the last four fences on course didn’t cause any penalties at all.
Design
In his first year as course designer in 2014, Giuseppe Della Chiesa had set a testing course that was made much more difficult by horrible conditions. Today, with a bit of a breeze but excellent going, things went in the opposite way.
“It rode as I thought it would. The conditions were perfect, but these guys here are good enough to make it look perfect,” Giuseppe said, referring to the top three of Andrew Nicholson, William Fox-Pitt and Oliver Townend.
“The course rode really well. There were some great rounds, a fantastic day for the sport but it was clear the course was riding well,” was the verdict of leading Brit William Fox-Pitt, currently in second.
Completions
It was a different story today compared to 2014, when only 35 riders completed with none finishing inside the time. This year there were 62 completions, and 14 inside the time.
The course designer’s job is undoubtedly a tricky one, especially given their lack of crystal ball – they have no way of predicting what the weather will do. The crowd and riders want there to be good sport, but they also want every horse to be safe and sound afterwards, and that’s a difficult balancing act indeed.
But eventing is about three phases, and to see a real lack of movement in the leaderboard is a bit disappointing, given the movement and shake-up caused by last year’s cross-country. There are some good horses who jumped great rounds today, but already they have little hope of making it into the top 10.
At least the tight marks at the very top will result in an exciting finish to the showjumping, with just five fences dividing the top 27. So the dressage was influential, and showjumping could well be too – but perhaps the cross-country could have had played a bigger role in terms of deciding tomorrow’s final placings.
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