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‘He’s my hero!’ Relief for Badminton runner-up Oliver Townend with his five-star veteran

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • Ballaghmor Class continued his phenomenal record of being placed top five in all eight of his five-star appearances (not including championships) to finish runner-up at Badminton Horse Trials, at the event presented by Mars Equestrian.

    Ridden by Oliver Townend, the great grey knocked one fence down to move up a place from his third slot overnight when Austin O’Connor’s ride Colorada Blue lowered the two parts of the final double. Ballaghmor Class had clocked the third fastest time across country the previous day to move up from sixth after dressage.

    The Badminton winners, Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, were in a class of their own this weekend. They secured victory over Oliver by 15 penalties. But Oliver was delighted with his horse’s performance and consistency.

    “He’s my hero,” said Oliver. “Whenever I’m having a rough time, he comes to the front, that’s what good mates do. I can’t tell you how proud I am of him.”

    The 16-year-old, owned by Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan, was finishing runner-up for the second time here (2019). He also has an Olympic team gold medal in his cabinet.

    “He’s unreal, isn’t he?” Oliver said. “I’ve had too many seconds with him, bless him, we’ll put that down to the jockey! He is literally part of the family. It’s a huge relief to me that I haven’t mucked it up and he’s had another amazing result.”

    Ballaghmor Class had lowered four fences in the showjumping phase at the Pratoni World Championships last autumn, and this was a testing track if he was not on his game. When he knocked down the oxer at fence 3, it looked like a long way home to hold on to his position, but he made light work of it, adding just 0.4 of a time-fault.

    Earlier in the day, Ballaghmor Class’s groom Charlotte Holifield had won the Treehouse Sporting Colours grooms’ prize.

    How to watch Badminton Horse Trials

    If you are interested in watching back the Badminton Horse Trials action from the comfort of your home, wherever you are in the world, you will need to subscribe to Badminton TV. To sign up, visit watch.badminton-horse.tv – click the “Sign Up” link in the top right corner of your screen, then follow the instructions. An annual subscription to Badminton TV costs £19.99 and gives you 365 days of access to all of the content in the Badminton TV library, the ability to watch the action live, and the option to replay all of this year’s action later.

    You may also like to read…

    Keep up to date with all of the breaking news, behind the scenes insight and the best of the action throughout Badminton Horse Trials with no limit on how much you can read from as little as £1 per week with a Horse & Hound unlimited website subscription. Sign up now. Plus enjoy our full 22-page magazine report on Badminton, including in-depth analysis and exclusive comments from Nick Burton and Mark Phillips, in Horse & Hound magazine (on sale 11 May).

    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on dogs of all shapes and sizes. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs, one a street dog from Gambia who was abandoned at three weeks old. Now, her constant companion, whether by her feet at her desk or walking cross-country courses, 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.
    Martha Terry

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