The Mars Badminton Horse Trials cross-country phase provided a classic day of sport. There was plenty of drama with an ever-changing leaderboard under blue skies, and the top two horses were reinstated after their initial flag penalties were reviewed.
The 44 clears from the 79 starters gives a 56% clear rate. On the fast going, six horses made the time, which is the joint-highest number since Eric Winter took over as course-designer in 2017.
Top 10 at the conclusion of the Badminton Horse Trials cross-country phase
Oliver Townend’s second ride Cooley Rosalent has retained his dressage lead, after a brief spell outside the top 10 while his flag penalties at Huntsman’s Close were reviewed and then removed by the ground jury.
By the time Rosalent started out across country, Oliver had a bit of breathing room as the first phase runner-up Tom McEwen had broken a frangible device and clocked time-faults on JL Dublin. Rosalent finished just 3sec outside the time for 1.2 time-faults.
Badminton final scores
Before this leading round, Ros Canter’s superbly smooth clear inside the time on Lordships Graffalo had put her up to the top of the leaderboard. However, she, too, was initially penalised for a flag at Huntsman’s Close.
Gemma Stevens spent most of the day at the head of affairs after a brave and positive round inside the time on Chilli Knight from fifth draw, and she retained a podium spot once all the flag reviews were complete.
A notable climber from the dressage phase was Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue, who went round on rails to add nothing to their 20th-placed dressage score of 30.8 to leapfrog up to fourth.
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The final horse inspection is scheduled to take place at 8.30am tomorrow morning (Sunday, 11 May), after which the order of jumping will be confirmed.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
