William Fox-Pitt (pictured) clinched his fourth Bramham Horse Trials this afternoon in a tense show jumping finale.
Just 0.2 of a penalty covered the top four after cross-country, but when William jumped clear on British Intermediate Champion Macchiato, the pressure was on the top three.
Each in turn faulted, with Polly Stockton just lowering the last on Westwood Joker and Pippa Funnell taking out three on Ensign. The crowd seemed be willing the local girl, overnight leader Nicola Wilson (née Tweddle), to a clear on Skiver, but she had both the last two fences down to fall to third.
“It was a clever track because everything was strategically placed into a tradestand, or scoreboard or banner the same colour as the fence,” said William.
“Macchiato rattled a few but he doesn’t want to knock them down. With another year of strength behind him he won’t be rattling poles. He was muscularly tired today, as he was when he had four down at Blenheim last year.”
Don’t forget to buy Horse & Hound this Thursday (14 June) for a full report from Bramham, photographs and William Fox-Pitt’s column.
FINAL RESULTS
Senior section
1. Macchiato (William Fox-Pitt, GB) 51.7
2. Westwood Joker (Polly Stockton, GB) 55.7
3. Skiver (Nicola Tweddle, GB) 59.5
4. The Biz (Heidi Woodhead, GB) 59.8
5. Ensign (Pippa Funnell, GB) 63.6
6. Mac Macdonald (Caroline Powell, NZL) 66.3
For full results visit www.bdwp.co.uk/bra