Jesse and Speedwell – owned by Karen Coumbe and Deborah Strang, mother of Jesse’s late wife Georgie, who previously rode the horse – scored 25.5 to take the lead soon after lunch.
“It’s not often you can get the work you do at home out of the horse in the arena and he really gave me that. Bar one mistake, everything else just felt really rock solid and I could place him where I wanted, and he was soft around my leg. It was cool,” said the New Zealand rider.
Elaborating on his Bramham Horse Trials dressage error, Jesse Campbell said: “Because he was feeling great, I went for a little bit of a bigger step in my half-pass and he just broke into canter. I probably should have waited, got the balance and then gone. But he actually recovered it really quickly.”
Jesse said he has worked on the 12-year-old horse’s confidence.
“We’ve always known he’s a fantastically talented horse, but he needs to believe it as well,” he said.
Jesse said New Zealand high performance manager Jock Paget had told him he needed to do a long-format competition early in the year to be in the running for the World Championships in Aachen in August, so he went to Strzegom in April, which he won.
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“I thought maybe Luhmühlen Horse Trials four-star short would be the thing, but when he won at Strzegom I thought I wanted to come to Bramham, which is a little bit busier and has the arena on grass – it mimics more what the World Championships is going to be like,” he said.
Tom McEwen had similar thoughts in bringing the Lamberts’ and Deirdre Johnston’s JL Dublin here, after his European individual bronze last year and win at Kronenberg CCI4*-S in March. The British pair scored 26.8 to sit second.
“I thought he was fantastic. I’m absolutely delighted with him,” Tom said. “He loves performing in front of people, so the more people that came, the better he got.
“I thought that was a really, really nice test, so I am super disappointed with the mark. I looked up every time at seven, 7.5 and I was thinking ‘What do you guys actually want?’ The judges have obviously stuck to their grouping and that’s what they stayed at. But I’ve ridden two tests, on two different horses, so to know the difference between mine – I think they are a little bit out, which is a shame.”
Kitty King holds third on the late Elizabeth Golby’s 10-year-old Renkum Jitterbug, a new ride for her this year, having scored 27.7 today.
US pair in sixth after Bramham Horse Trials dressage
There was much anticipation around the first test this morning, as US rider Tamie Smith and her Kentucky Three-Day Event CCI4*-S winner Lillet 3 took to the arena. This pair, too, are front runners for selection for the World Championships for their nation.
“I was hoping for exactly what she was – maybe I was hoping for a better score, but it’s hard to be first in and they’re judging strong, and I think that’s great. I think the standard needs to be high,” said Tamie, whose test, which scored 30 for sixth overnight, was only marred by the mare stepping backwards in her final halt.
Tamie has been riding Lillet 3 for about 18 months after she started her career with Germany’s Andreas Dibowski.
“She’s a real trier, but she can be both very sweet and really moody and opinionated. She tells you exactly how she feels at all times,” said Tamie.
Brotherton leads under-25 championship at Bramham
Barnie Brotherton heads the under-25 championship in seventh place overall in this class, with his mother Naomi’s DHI King Nelson, scoring 30.2.
“I was not expecting as good a test as that because I haven’t had much prep,” said Barnie, who broke his arm six weeks ago today when a horse he was feeding in the field kicked him.
“It turned around and double-barrelled out at my head, I put my arm up in the way and it luckily got my arm instead,” said Barnie.
The 23-year-old started riding again, just on DHI King Nelson, two weeks ago and is wearing a splint on his arm this week.
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.
