Cheshire-based Chinese rider Alex, who is always strong in this phase, scored 29.4 with his own nine-year-old Manjushri, known as Buddy.
“He’s always been a pretty competitive horse, but he’s green still at four-star,” said Alex Hua Tian after his Bramham Horse Trials dressage. “He ran a couple of four-stars last year and this is only his second run this year.
“I’m very happy with him – he got a bit behind my leg in there so there’s more to come, but he’s very scopey and exciting.
“I’ve had a little walk around the cross-country and it’s big enough out there, so he’s going to have to be quite brave on Saturday.
“Bramham is Bramham – it’s an iconic event. He’s a big, galloping, bold horse naturally so I think the track will really suit him. He’s here for development and education and if we can be competitive at the same time, that’d be amazing.”
Gemma Stevens holds second on Chris and Lisa Stone’s Chilli Morning clone, Chilli Morning IV, who sits one mark behind Alex and Manjushri. The chestnut, another nine-year-old, put in a great test aside from a light-hearted buck in his final change, which had Gemma laughing.
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“That was fun – I actually enjoyed doing dressage, even though it’s raining,” said Gemma, who is known for not being a fan of wet, cold weather.
“He’s just lovely to ride – you can literally ride every movement, every blade of grass, and he’s so bendy, so you can really get lovely flexion and prepare him for every movement, because he’s so with you and he’s not tense.
“He’s not worried about any sort of atmosphere, he likes it, and because I’ve had him from the beginning and he’s never really missed any work, he’s had consistent training, so he’s very confident. Apart from one cheeky change at the end, which I don’t mind, he was so good everywhere else.”
Kitty King holds third on 31.6 with 14-year-old Cristal Fontaine, a horse she now owns having previously ridden him for Alex Wakeley.
“The owner decided that he wanted to move on, so he’s now mine,” she said. “I’d never sell him, because he’s not very saleable – he’s not the nicest on the ground and he’s had his few niggles, so I’m looking for anyone who’d like to become involved in the sport with a high-level horse.
“He’s been very consistent at four-star – he’s barely been out the top 10 and if there are some people who want to join in with the journey and pay towards some of his running costs with me, that would be the dream. But if not, I’m just going to be enjoying him as my horse with no pressure.”
Of the grey’s test today, Kitty said: “He did lots of nice work and then he did his normal trick of when he hits the centre line, he thinks he should be stopping. He’s reasonably lazy so as soon as you go and do anything away from home up the centre line, he’s ‘Halt, halt, halt’ and you’re ‘Get going’, so he blew a few movements.
“But when we were going forward, he did some lovely work, so there’s lots to be pleased with, and he hasn’t been at this level for a long time. The atmosphere certainly didn’t get to him, so that’s always good to know, with no arena familiarisation, so he’s very straightforward in that respect.”
Cerys Macaulay holds the lead in the under-25 national championship and ninth place overall in this class, on Wendy and Richard Coney’s Kananaskis.
Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
