Barbury Castle Horse Trials
Chris King snatched a last minute victory in the CIC*** at Barbury Castle, sponsored by St James’s Place.
Chris and The Secret Weapon lay second after the dressage and show jumping, but put in a quicker cross-country round than Rodney Powell and Langarth Darcy to win by 0.3 of a penalty.
“I sat in the lorry wondering if I should take him slowly as it’s his first three-star, but I knew he had half a chance and it’s not every day you are lying second, so I decided to go for it and he was fantastic,” said Chris.
Rodney finished second, with Chatsworth winners Mary King and Call Again Cavalier third.
Rodney said: “Langarth Darcy is very consistent in all three phases, which is hard to get at this level. This is a local event to me and it would be lovely to win it, but Chris rode really well and deserved to win.”
The leaderboard in the CIC*** changed constantly during both the show jumping and cross-country. The new log to triple brush arrowhead at the Earthline Sarsen Quarry was particularly influential, taking out two of the top 10 going into the cross-country.
FINAL RESULTS
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1. The Secret Weapon (Chris King, GB) 57.7
2. Langarth Darcy (Rodney Powell, GB) 58
3. Call Again Cavalier (Mary King, GB) 59.2
4. Tom Quigley (Polly Stockton, GB) 60.1
5. Monarch’s Rock (Beanie Sturgis, GB) 60.2
6. Flint Curtis (Oliver Townend, GB) 62.2
For full results visit www.bdwp.co.uk/bar
Don’t forget to buy Horse & Hound this Thursday (12 July) for a full report from Barbury, colour photographs and William Fox-Pitt’s column about the event.
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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.