New leader heads Blenheim’s kingmaker class: ‘I’m not used to these scores – I’ve been running after them all my life!’
Astier Nicolas and Hitchqote Du Coudray head the dressage standings in the CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-old horses at Blenheim Horse Trials
French Olympic medallist Astier Nicolas and Hitchqote Du Coudray collected a perfect 10 as they soared to the top of the dressage standings in the GFS Saddles CCI4*-S young horse championship at Agria Blenheim Horse Trials.
Astier and the nine-year-old, known as “Alfred” by his friends as a nod to the play on spelling on Hitchcock that inspired his official name, were among the last to go in this huge kingmaker class.
Their score of 23.5 featured a 10 for their excellent mid-test halt, a smattering of nines for their canter work, plus plenty of eights. Only once did their numbers dip below a seven, a rogue 6.5 for an early piece of trot-work, which is testament to the overall quality of their performance.
“He gave me a very good feeling,” said Astier, who has been riding the gelding for four years.
“He’s a very gentle horse. He’s one of these very serious ones. He always tries to please. He got quite worried when he got in, but I had the time to do two laps around the arena, which was good, and then he was focusing more on me than on his own stress, which is his quality, and the quality of the very good horses. It's brilliant.”
Hitchqote Du Coudray, who is owned by Etienne Grivot, Mathilde Grivot, S.A.R.L. Ecurie Brillantissime and his rider, has an exemplary international record and is stepping up to four-star for the first time at Blenheim.
“I’m not used to these scores – I’ve been I’ve been running after them all my life, and sometimes I get one, but not often!” said Astier.
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“I’ve been working with Holly Woodhead, and I must say that she's done great work in telling me off, and it's going well.”
Holly stepped up to play an even bigger role this week in the pair’s preparation for Blenheim.
“I've had a funny week,” said Astier. “I travelled over on Saturday, arrived Saturday night with Holly and James [Avery, Holly’s fiancé. They are good friends and I stayed with them at the beginning of the week. The horse had Sunday off, I rode on Monday, and the day after I had a very bad back – I couldn’t get out of bed – so Holly rode him. I managed to jump him on the Wednesday, and I feel better today.”
The fact that a sub-30 mark was not enough for riders to guarantee their place in the provisional top 10 reflects the quality of this 104-strong class. A total of 14 competitors broke the 30 barrier, and less than 10 penalties separate the top 36 places at this stage.
Friday’s competitors gave the CCI4*-S leaderboard a good shake. Thursday’s overnight leaders Tom McEwen and Brookfield Danny De Muze now hold fourth place, with Bubby Upton now filling second with two of her three rides.
Blenheim Horse Trials dressage: lightening strikes twice for Bubby Upton
Bubby’s first ride today, Auckland 7, was the first to topple Tom from his lofty perch. The pair sprang into the lead after the first coffee break on a score of 26.9. Remarkably, Bubby then earned the exact same score for her second test of the day, piloting Sancerre De Tiji into equal second with his stablemate. Bubby owns both horses with long-term supporter Caroline Owen.
Bubby, who trains with Amy Woodhead – Holly’s sister, said today’s result is “too special for words”.
Reflecting on her test with Auckland, she said: “I’m just so pleased that hr was able to pull it off today in the arena. Saturday and Sunday are another day, and there’ll be big challenges for him. This time last year, he was doing his first two-star at Belsay, so we've come a long way,” she said.
“We went and found him in Germany from a lovely family who'd bred him, and it's been quite the process really finding the right tool for him, because he's a real internaliser and worries, but doesn’t necessarily feel like that. But with the help of my amazing dressage coach, I feel like today we nailed it and did her proud.”
She added: “I think his changes were unbelievable; I felt like I actually rode them and did him justice in them. I was actually saying to someone earlier that I’ve never come out of that test and thought, ‘Damn, I crushed it’. And today, I think it's the first time, on the most inexperienced horse, that I actually think I rode it okay!”
Following her test with Sancerre De Tiji, a horse she has had from a four-year-old, Bubby said: “Obviously, this is only the first phase, but I'm so aware that the next two phases are just building blocks for them. It's not about the result they pull off this weekend. It's all about what they've shown in terms of promise for the future.
“I think the absolute world of this little guy, Sancerre De Tiji, he is an absolute superstar. I’ve always believed in him so much, and he thinks he's a champ. So we had to just kind of try and control that ego in a way that doesn’t ever get rid of it because it makes him a star, but to try and get him to listen to me a bit more than maybe he would like to most of the time.”
Izzy Taylor now holds fifth with Johnny Hornby’s Barrington Boy (27.4) and Kitty King is in sixth on British novice champion Kilcotrim Cooley, who is owned by Marshall and Sarah Riley.
Showjumping starts at 7.50am tomorrow morning (Saturday) and the class concludes with the cross-country on Sunday.
- View results and times for the young horse CCI4*-S at Blenheim Horse Trials
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.