Ros Canter and Izilot DHI have won the Land Rover CCI4*-S after their Bramham Horse Trials cross-country round this afternoon (11 June). They added 1.2 time-faults to their 23.9 two-phase score to secure victory with 1.5 penalties to spare.
“He was fantastic. He’s a spooky little horse and it’s taken time – sometimes he’s amazing and sometimes he’s been tricky – so to go out there and really concentrate was great,” said Ros about the nine-year-old she co-owns with Alex Moody. “He’s so brave, bold and scopey it’s just all about training his mind to follow me and not look at everything else.”
Ros said that she “wasn’t sure” if she was going to go for the time when she set out on the Bramham Horse Trials cross-country course.
“I knew I wanted to give it a go. He’s been so settled this week. If he hadn’t been settled, I wouldn’t have tried, even if we were in the lead,” she explained. “But he made me want to give it to go today. I had to push hard up the hill at the end. He was a bit shocked because I’m often careful with him – he doesn’t get me kicking very often – so he was a bit shocked, but I’m delighted.”
Oliver Townend and the exciting eight-year-old Cooley Rosalent went clear inside the 6min32sec optimum time to finish second.
“She’s very, very good. She’s still a baby with trees blowing believe it or not, she was spooking coming into combinations and looking at the trees next to them,” Oliver said of the eight-year-old owned by Paul Ridgeon. “We’re just ticking along and when all three bits come together, she’ll be very, very special and a winner and actually all three bits have come together today.
Piggy March and Brookfield Quality finished third, adding four time-faults to their 27.3 two-phase score.
“He was good and I’m delighted. My bridle didn’t work at Houghton – I lost a little bit of steering towards the end, hence why I dropped him from the long to the short format here just to make sure everything was great, but I had a lovely ride on him and no dodgy moments. He was as good as I hoped he would be,” Piggy said after her round on the 13-year-old owned by John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn.
Speaking of her bridle issues, Piggy said: “I tried to buy a version of the one Emilie Chandler had given me at the end of last year to practise with, but the one I have is brand new and not moulded and just doesn’t feel the same. So I rang her to be like, ‘Can I try your old one back again?’
“I think I’m going have to wear the other to wear it in a bit. It’s a Kineton noseband with an English gag and I think we’ve slightly got a thicker mouthpiece but it’s just a bit stiff. It’s meant to fit nicely round the nose and under the bit and there were air gaps that I could see that probably weren’t there on the other one, hence why I put Emilie’s one back on today.”
Piggy said that she just wanted a “nice and happy round” with Brookfield Quality today.
“I knew Oliver [Townend] had gone inside the time and it’s late in the day now, after the delays, and I just wanted to have a good spin with him again, so that’s what we did.”
Keep up-to-date with all the action from Bramham via horseandhound.co.uk and read the full magazine report in the 16 June issue of Horse & Hound
You might also be interested in:
Oliver Townend and bright young star shine at halfway stage of CCI4*-S Bramham Horse Trials cross-country
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British rider moves up to lead Bramham under-25s after cross-country – despite riding with severe knee injury
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