Happy 70th birthday, Sir Mark Todd! Mark’s achievements in eventing are legendary, from his two Olympic golds to riding round Badminton with just one stirrup – and winning it on a catch ride.
To celebrate this milestone birthday for Mark Todd, we’re taking a look back at three of the greatest moments of the New Zealander’s career…
Burghley 1987 was the final chance for Charisma – known as Podge – to win a British four-star (now five-star), as he would be aimed at defending his Olympic title in Seoul the following year and then retired.
“My other Burghley ride that year was Wilton Fair – known unflatteringly at home as Big Red Willy – which I had upgraded from intermediate after his owner, Lucy Robinson, decided she didn’t want to do any more with him,” wrote Mark in his autobiography, Second Chance.
“Despite his inexperience he went very well around Burghley and after cross-country I was in the lead on Podge, who had been as enthusiastic as ever, and second on Will. If only we’d stayed in that order.
“Will, a really genuine horse, showjumped clear; Podge, showing his usual disdain for the coloured poles, hit two fences. I was still first and second, which was a new Burghley record, and I should have been pleased but it felt like the wrong way round. Inside, I was so disappointed not to have won on Podge, and he obviously sensed it, because as I led him into the arena for prize-giving alongside Will, he sulked and put his ears back.”
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Mark Todd pilots Charisma to second at Burghley 1987.
(Image credit: Stock Archive)
Mark won five times in all at Burghley, equalling a record set by Ginny Elliot and later beaten only by William Fox-Pitt, whose 2011 victory made him the first person to take the British autumn classic six times.
Back to back Olympic titles
Mark and Charisma sealed their status as one of the all-time great eventing partnerships when they took their second Olympic title in Seoul in 1988, having won their first in Los Angeles in 1984.
At the time of LA, they were still a fairly new combination, with Mark having taken over the ride on the horse he considered a “fat hairy pony” in 1983. The pair won six events in New Zealand that year and Podge was duly shipped to England for the spring of 1984, where he finished second at Badminton before taking the gold at the Olympics.
By 1988, Charisma was 16, an elder statesman of the sport, and Mark received some criticism for even wanting to take him to Seoul. He skipped Badminton that spring, focusing on getting the horse really fit – to the extent that Charisma’s first prep run, at Brockenhurst, was a disaster as he was so above himself. Luckily, he redeemed himself before travelling to the Games by winning the British open at Gatcombe.
“From the moment we arrived in Seoul everything felt right, and I just had a really good feeling about everything,” Mark Todd told Debby Sly for her book Olympic Eventing Masterclass.
“Charisma led the dressage by a good margin, and many commentators felt he deserved an even higher mark than the one was awarded. He achieved the fastest time across country and made it all feel very easy – he was well within himself. Going into the showjumping he had three fences in hand, and just had the one down.”
Horse & Hound’s dressage correspondent Pegotty Henriques said Mark and Charisma’s dressage test was “probably more faultless” than the grand prix special produced by the dressage gold medallists Nicole Uphoff and Rembrandt.
Mark Todd celebrates gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
(Image credit: Split Seconds/Alamy Stock Photo)
Mark was the second rider to win two Olympic eventing titles, after Charles Pahud de Mortanges, who rode Marcroix to victory in 1928 and 1932.
Mark retired from eventing in 2000, leaving a legion of eventers remembering his glory days. A new wave of fans grew up watching old video tapes, reading books and believing they would never see the legend compete live. And then, in 2008, Mark announced a comeback. Three years later, he won his fourth Badminton Horse Trials title, his ninth five-star (then four-star) triumph in all.
Mark Todd raises the Badminton Horse Trials trophy after his 2011 triumph.
(Image credit: Trevor Meeks)
Catherine Austen wrote in the Horse & Hound report: “This will surely go down as the greatest sporting comeback of all time… To return to the sport after eight years, pull off a ‘dare’ of riding at the 2008 Olympics and then fight his way back up to the very top and score another Badminton triumph is simply astonishing.”
Mark said: “When I retired, I’d had enough. I’d lost the motivation to do the work. And I didn’t even miss the sport. It ended up as a bit of a dare – could I get to the Olympics in August having started in the spring? But I found I was really enjoying it again.”
Mark Todd and NZB Land Vision win Badminton 2011.
(Image credit: Trevor Meeks)
The then 55-year-old’s partner was the grey NZB Land Vision, a 10-year-old top-level debutant who had won the 2009 British intermediate championships with Oliver Townend before joining Mark.
“Andrew Nicholson rang me and told me about the horse – and said to be quick because Tina Cook might be going to look at it. I jumped on a plane and bought the horse,” said Mark after his Badminton win.
Have a great birthday, Mark Todd, and thanks for all the wonderful memories.
As Mark Todd celebrates his 70th birthday, what are your favourite memories of his career? Did you learn something watching him which you’ve used yourself with your horses? Write to hhletters@futurenet.com for a chance to be published in a future issue of Horse & Hound. Please include your full name and address; your nearest town and county only will be published. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.
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.
