Ros Canter has held her dressage lead at the Mars Badminton Horse Trials with a clear inside the time over the cross-country course today (Saturday, 9 May) on her defending champion Lordships Graffalo (Walter).
“I just feel incredibly grateful to him, to have a horse that allows me to come out at a level like this not maybe feeling at my best, but believing I can do it because of him,” said Ros, who had her second daughter, Seneh, in late January.
Ros said the challenge for her in riding Michele and Archie Saul’s Lordships Graffalo was more mental than physical.
“Physically I’m not up to where I was, but I was confident with him, because he makes my life quite easy, it wasn’t going to be a massive physical battle,” she said. “It’s more mental and about time – the time isn’t there, I’m feeding a baby – so the question was could I do it without having those moments to myself that I usually get?”
Ros added: “I feel very proud, not really just of myself but of the team I have around me. They’re the ones who have enabled me to do it. I didn’t sit on Walter until well into February and they put the fitness work into him when I wasn’t there – there’s a period just before and after having a baby when you just aren’t there.
“And my amazing mum, who’s been through a lot this year. She gets up earlier and earlier and works so hard to make my dreams come true.”
Dressage leader Ros Canter was held at the start of the Badminton Horse Trials cross-country because the rider before her, France’s Luc Chateau, fell when Viens Du Mont hit the second brush bucket coming out of the Equidry Huntsman’s Close (fence 6ab). The horse galloped away and Luc walked home after receiving medical attention.
Once Ros and Lordships Graffalo got going, their partnership looked as superb as ever, with Ros riding with her customary longer reins and Walter putting his mealy nose forward to seek each fence.
They were copybook through the early combinations at the Equidry Huntsman’s Close (fence 6ab) and the Mars Lake (fences 9ab and 10ab), as well as through the Spillers Sustainability Bay (fence 20abcd), where Ros’s pupil Cassie Sanger fell earlier today.
Lordships Graffalo drifted slightly over the ditch at Mike Weaver’s Farm Yard (fence 22ab) and got a little close to the rail out, touching it, but the frangible device did not break.
They made the time easily, finishing 13 seconds inside the target without looking under any pressure, and will start tomorrow’s showjumping with a rail in hand.
Ros said of her brilliant partner: “He’s amazing – he pricks his ears and says, ‘I’ve got it’ but never tows me through it, never tows me onto a difficult spot. He’s always light in the gallop and enables me to get into a position where I believe I can be one of the fastest riders in the world.”
In the section immediately before Ros, Emma Thomas finished with 20 penalties at the Mars Lake (fence 9ab) with Icarus, plus six time-penalties, and fellow Brit Fiona Kashel jumped round clear on Creevagh Silver De Haar with 12 time-faults.
How to watch and listen to Badminton Horse Trials
To watch Badminton Horse Trials live or via catch up, including the trot-ups, from the comfort of your home anywhere in the world, you need a 2026 Badminton TV Pass. Badminton TV is once again powered by ClipMyHorse.TV, but you do not need a full ClipMyHorse.TV subscription to watch – you can just subscribe to Badminton TV for £22.99. Go to badminton-horse.tv to sign up. If you are already a ClipMyHorse.TV premium member, Badminton TV is included in your subscription. Also check out the Badminton app, which provides free live results and much more this year. Sign up for Badminton Plus membership for £4.99 to access the live Radio Badminton broadcast and receive exclusive offers from on-site exhibitors. Search for Badminton Horse Trials in your app store.
Enjoy the best of Badminton with Horse & Hound
To ensure you keep up to date with all the breaking news, behind the scenes insight, and the best of the action throughout Badminton Horse Trials with no limits on how much you can read, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website from as little as £1 a week. Sign up now. And don’t miss our bumper 28-page magazine report on Badminton, including in-depth analysis and exclusive comments from top names, in the issue of Horse & Hound dated 14 May.
You may also be interested in:
Dressage podium finisher drops down order as Badminton cross-country influences leaderboard
Fancy a peek at this year’s Badminton Horse Trials cross-country course? Of course you do!
A fall, a retirement and a clear inside the time: mixed fortunes for early riders on Badminton cross-country
How to watch Badminton Horse Trials live from anywhere in the world
Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round
