Brazil’s Marcio Carvalho Jorge and 11-year-old five-star debutant Royal Encounter have gone third at the Mars Badminton Horse Trials on the second day of dressage (Friday 8 May), scoring 29.2.
Wiltshire-based Marcio has completed Badminton twice before, his highest placing 23rd in 2014 on Josephine MCJ.
“I’m really happy – he’s such a nice horse, with such a good brain,” Marcio said. “He coped really well with the crowd. I think it’s his first time in an environment like this, and I’m really pleased with him.”
Marcio bought Royal Encounter as a five-year-old with co-owners Annabel, Alistair and Ken Vere Nicoll, and has produced him from BE100 up to five-star.
Badminton final scores
“He’s always had a nice brain – he’s very cute, he sleeps all day,” said Marcio. “Even today, before we tacked him up, he was lying down sleeping. He does this every day, doesn’t matter if he’s at a competition or at home. It’s funny, but it’s also good, because he rests his body and his legs.”
Asked if Royal Encounter had exceeded expectations, Marcio was measured in his response: “We had expectations, but we never know, competition is competition, sometimes it goes right, sometimes it goes wrong. But we always thought that if everything went well, it could be a good result.”
Marcio added that he’s walked the Badminton cross-country course and was clear-eyed about the challenge ahead for a five-star debutant.
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“It’s a nice course – big, as it should be at Badminton,” he said. “But it’s not one or two jumps, it’s all together that’s the question. It’s his first five-star, so let’s see what happens.”
Laura Collett happy to “survive” Badminton dressage with Bling
Laura Collett – not long back from surgery – and Bling were next into the arena, scoring 33.5 penalties to go into joint 21st place – a result Laura was happy with after a difficult start to the week.
The 13-year-old mare came across hound exercise on Wednesday and bolted with Laura.
“There aren’t many horses that scare me, but she does,” Laura said. “When the red mist comes, there’s no thought process in what she’s doing – she just bolts. And when she goes, she properly goes.
“We bolted down the avenue. Luckily, no one was around. So we’re just very happy we’re here, we survived, and we’re still going. We’re just trying to do all we can to keep her chilled and calm – and it seemed to work.”
Bling finds dressage physically as well as mentally difficult, Laura said, but has recently started to soften.
“Just before Burghley last year, she started to think about maybe working with me and not 100% against me,” she said. “We’re definitely not fully there yet, but it’s a work in progress – she’s tricky in her head, so everything’s a bit of a mind game to get her to work in the way that you want her to.
“At home now she’s feeling really good, but it’s a whole different ball game when you go into an atmosphere and do a test like that.
53 Laura Collett riding Bling
During the dressage stage of the MARS Badminton Horse Trials Tetbury 2026
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
“I was just very pleased she didn’t break in the counter-canter, because she’s just about got her head around doing a flying change on a diagonal line. Then it was like, ‘Oh no, you’ve got to do medium and stay counter-canter, then do a change’ – and she’s been a bit like, ‘You decide what you want, one or the other, not all three at once.’
“That’s just her mentality. If she understands something, if she allows herself to understand it, then she’s fine. But she’s not very good at giving herself that opportunity to listen.”
Badminton debutantes Nadja Minder and Nicole Basieux’s 19-year-old gelding Toblerone – Nadja’s partner since her young rider days – put in a fantastic performance just before the break, going into joint seventh on 30.3 penalties.
“He’s an absolute chocolate legend,” said Nadja, who picked up three 9s on the way to her Badminton dressage score. “He was quite lit up in the warm-up, more than usual, but he’s such a professional, he tries so hard, and he just knows his job.”
Nadja, who is based in Switzerland, said the gelding had been getting better with age.
“To be honest, he feels better now than when I got him six years ago,” she said. “He’s got more supple through work, and he’s just an absolute athlete and machine.
“He started quite late, so he’s not as used as probably other 19-year-olds. He doesn’t need that much preparation now – I can just go from show to show and do what’s necessary.”
Nadja, whose mother is grooming for her this week, had a last-minute withdrawal at her previous attempt to come to Badminton.
“I had the Olympic dream, and I wanted to ride Badminton one day,” she said. “To come here now feels so unreal, with my mom as my groom – we’ve been on this journey together.
“It’s a childhood dream, and I’m so grateful for Toblerone and his owner for making it possible. We know how hard it is to get to one of these, so it feels special.”
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).
