It was a good day across country for Tom McEwen as he climbed to the top of the Land Rover Blair Castle Horse Trials CCI4*-L leaderboard with Luna Mist – and held his superb lead in the CCI3*-L with Brookfield Cavalier Cruise.
Time was a major factor in the CCI4*-L, with none of the 14 combinations going inside the 10.07 allowance. Tom added two time-penalties to his 29.9 dressage and goes into the final showjumping phase with Martin Belsham’s Luna Mist on 31.9.
“She was brilliant,” Tom told H&H.
“She won the British intermediate championship last time out and she was super smooth round there, but she’s a feisty little mare and it just made her a little keen today. It’s took me until about eight minutes to settle her down, which probably cost us the two seconds.”
The course asked lots of questions with two water combinations; 9ABC (Land Rover Log, Brush Parallel and Corner) and 15ABC (Taiga Upland Arrowhead, Step & Well), a narrow “seal” at fence 22 and a big parallel at 17. Overnight leaders Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent activated the MIM clip at fence 15c (Taiga Upland Arrowhead, Step and Well) to add 11 penalties and 1.2 time-penalties to their 29.4 dressage.
“I know even though Luna Mist has a big stride, if it’s a big oxer early on she’s going to probably have the extra distance, which she did at fence 4AB (British Event Support Trust Parallels). Everywhere else she was nice and keen, she was actually wanting to go a bit too free,” said Tom.
“It was a proper good track. There’s enough people at the bottom but up the top it’s absolutely covered! It’s fantastic for Blair to have so many entries and supporters. The ground is amazing this year, but it always is very good. It shows what a show it is and for the development of these horses, it’s a proper four-star test for them – there’s plenty to do.”
Looking ahead to the future, Tom was in no doubt about the mare’s potential.
“She’s a proper five-star horse,” he said.
Oliver Townend and Paul Ridgeon’s Cooley Rosalent slipped into second place and go into the showjumping on 41.6 – meaning Tom has two fences in hand. Nini French, Piggy March’s sister, is in third overnight with her own Time For Harry.
Oliver told H&H the mare, by the stallion Valent, “more than ticked the boxes”.
“She’s eight years old and she’s gone round there. She’s a natural athlete, with loads of blood. She wants to do it. She’s beautiful to look at and she’s been beautiful to produce,” he said.
“I thought it was a beautiful track; the first water (fence 9ABC) rode a little more physical than what you would expect in terms of the distances. They didn’t ride like they walked but at the same time it was a fair, big question.
“It rode like a proper course, you had to work and it’s a great place to bring one to find out what you’ve got. You can bring one here thinking you’ve got a superstar and leave knowing you’ve not – and that’s exactly what a four-star long should be. I think if everyone brought their horses here instead of going to different venues you’d see a lot less car crashes when they get to five-star.”
Oliver and Cooley Rosalent were the fastest combination on track and he said the time allowance was “how it should be” at this level.
“The time should be difficult to get because we’re about to go for another minute longer at a Badminton or Burghley,” he said.
“There’s no point going round a flat track on firm ground being seven seconds inside the time thinking you’re amazing and ready for [the step up to] Burghley.”
The CCI4*-L was not the only class Oliver activated a MIM clip; he picked up 11 penalties at fence six on Dolmen Debenture in the CCI2*-L and at the same fence on Cooley And Co in the the CCI3*-L.
Reflecting on MIM clips, Oliver said riders are “not against” them being used for safety, but he does not agree with riders being penalised for activating them.
“There isn’t a top professional rider in the world that isn’t against the 11 penalties for a horse doing its job correctly,” he said.
Blair Castle Horse Trials CCI3*-L
Tom finished three seconds inside the time of the CCI3*-L with Alison Swinburn, and John and Chloe Perry’s Brookfield Cavalier Cruise and remains on his phenomenal 22.9 dressage as he goes into the final showjumping phase tomorrow.
Tom has two fences in hand, with Max Burton lying second overnight with the Paske Syndicate’s Deerpair Revelry on 31.0. Sam Ecroyd is in provisional third with his mother Penelope’s Withington – also on 31 after a clear jumping but picking up 2.4 time-penalties.
Brookfield Cavalier Cruise demonstrated his class in what was his first three-star long competition.
“It‘s his first long, and it’s a proper long. You’ve got the hills which definitely adds a fence or two compared to other three-star longs,” Tom said.
The course did not cause too many problems, with 70% of the 50-strong field jumping clear. The time did however once again prove influential, with only nine combinations finishing within the 9.38 allowance.
“I took it nice and within rhythm to begin with. I just made sure – as you have to at Blair – that you have enough in the tank for the end. To be honest Brookfield Cavalier Cruise found it super easy, which is the whole idea of the game,” said Tom.
“This is probably the first time I’ve properly gone fast [with him]. I’ve been waiting for the good ground and thanks to Blair we got perfect going and green grass, which we haven’t had for about four months. So it was the first time I asked him to open and he really said yes.
“We know he can do it because you can feel it and he’s got the mentality and way of going about him to do it so it was never a question – it was just whether he could do it for six minutes at the moment or the full nine-and-a-half. I’m really pleased and it will do him a lot of good moving forward because he’s definitely one for the future.”
The Blair Castle Horse Trials CCI3*-L and CCI4-*L concludes after the showjumping phase tomorrow (28 August).
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