William Fox-Pitt (pictured) moved up from fifth to claim the top spot at Bramham Horse Trials this afternoon — his fifth win at the event.
William jumped last year’s Houghton CCI** winner Navigator out of order, as he also had Kaleidoscope in the top five, going clear to secure fifth place early on in the proceedings.
And then the top four overnight — William and Kaleidoscope, Ruth Edge (Mr Dumbledore), Louise Skelton (Partly Pickled) and Dan Jocelyn (Mr Pracatan) — all had at least two fences down to leave Navigator, an Australian thoroughbred owned by the Barts Ladies syndicate, in the top spot.
“He’s a good jumper, but he can have one down, but today he didn’t feel like he would touch a fence,” said William. “I’ve produced him slowly because he’s a big-framed horse, and I’ve always thought he was a horse for the future.”
Those who jumped clear rounds this afternoon were well rewarded, with the final top four all finishing on their overnight scores. Mary King moved up from seventh to take second on the home-bred mare Kings Fancy, Matthew Wright claimed third with the promising nine-year-old L’Aristo Du Lado and Andrew Nicholson finished on his dressage score with Armada for fourth.
Polly Stockton had to withdraw Estrada, fifth overnight, before the trot-up.
FINAL RESULTS
1. Navigator (William Fox-Pitt, GB) 52.8
2. Kings Fancy (Mary King, GB) 54.5
3. L’Aristo Du Lado (Matthew Wright, GB) 57.7
4. Armada (Andrew Nicholson, NZL) 59.3
5. Partly Pickled (Louise Skelton, GB) 59.5
6. Mr Pracatan (Dan Jocelyn, NZL) 60.2
Full results and times from Bramham
Gallery of Bramham cross-country fences
Don’t forget to buy H&H next Thursday (12 May) for a full report, colour photographs and William Fox-Pitt’s comment.
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