Badminton Horse Trials blog: this year’s event has a brilliant buzz
This Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials is like all your Christmases at once: the old greats — Mark Todd, Ingrid Klimke, William Fox-Pitt, Pippa Funnell, Andrew Nicholson, Mary King — up against the younger world beaters: Michael Jung, Sandra Auffarth and others.
And this feels an especially international Badminton; today I’ve watched the large entourage buzzing round Spanish debutant Sebastian Mateu; marvelled at Dutch rider Merel Blom’s startling pink tailcoat collar; watched Italy’s lovely Vittoria Panizzon beam obligingly for a passer-by’s photograph; and checked out if Kai Ruder’s smile is still worthy of the front page (it is). But Brits caught my eye too, including Zara Phillips on High Kingdom — he does his dressage tomorrow shortly before 2pm, and the horse looking simply sensational.
Today’s dressage judging hasn’t been altogether consistent, with the two British judges different by almost 8% over what mark William Fox-Pitt should be awarded on Oslo. I am slightly surprised that, with the calibre field there is this year, no one has broken the 40-barrier on the first day — but it is likely to happen several times over tomorrow.
I walked a good stretch of the course with our art editor and one of our photographers, checking out the best spot to take photographs for a rather special front cover next Thursday. And the fences look great — technical, stunningly presented, with lots that is new. The rider view seems to be that the questions come thick and fast — but so they should — this is Badminton.
Badminton final scores
“Very serious jumping from the Lake onwards – right to the very end,” was Andrew Nicholson’s verdict, a man renowned for saying it like it is.
So, before I leg it to the cocktail party at the big house (shameless bragging, I know) here are my top tips for spectators tomorrow:
- Don’t forget to bring your 16-page form guide and score card (free inside our 2 May issue). Download it here
- Don’t think that just because it’s sunny, its warm. It may look like bare feet and Crocs weather, but it’s not.
H&H’s 25-page Badminton report is out next Thursday, 9 May, including comment from Judy Harvey, Ian Stark and Mark Phillips, pictures of every cross-country fence and full analysis of every phase.
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Lucy edited Horse & Hound from March 2002 until June 2014 and never had a dull day. She events (very badly) for fun, hunts whenever she can, and has written on topics ranging from embryo transfer to fall simulators. She’s reported from the 2006 Aachen World Equestrian Games and 2011 European Eventing Championships.