British Olympic hopefuls will take up one of the final chances to impress on home soil next week as three long listed horses appear on the Defender Bramham Horse Trials entries list.
Ros Canter with the Sauls’ Lordships Graffalo, Tom McEwen and the Lamberts and Deirdre Johnston’s JL Dublin and Kitty King with Vendredi Biats (owned by Diana Bown, John Eyre, Sally Lloyd Baker and Samantha Wilson) are all set to contest the CCI4*-S at Bramham. All three are then entered for the same class at Luhmühlen Horse Trials a week later, so it’s likely their riders are hedging their bets and will not actually compete at both events.
This will be JL Dublin’s first run since he finished second at Kentucky Three-Day Event in April, while Graffalo and Vendredi Biats have stuck to one-day events for their Paris Olympics campaign this spring.
The CCI4*-S holds the most entries of any class at Bramham Horse Trials, with 91 horses on the start list. Kitty also has the Wakeleys’ Cristal Fontaine, who has shown some good form this year but did have 20 penalties across country at Bicton Horse Trials, entered. Tom has Barkers’ MHS Brown Jack, who was eighth in this class two years ago and has been jumping on the Sunshine Tour with Will Fletcher this spring.
The 38-strong CCI4*-L boasts last year’s CCI4*-S winner in Selina Milnes and the Ruckers’ Cooley Snapchat and some pairs who have re-routed after early problems at Badminton including Felicity Collins’ on RSH Contend Or and US combination Allie Knowles and Morswood. Harry Meade and Oliver Townend are both double-handed in this class, too.
Just 10 are expected to go to post in the under-25 CCI4*-S and it’s a pretty open field, though Emma Thomas catches the eye on Icarus X after the pair were best British first-timers at Burghley Horse Trials last year. Emma withdrew after dressage at Badminton this spring after a poor score but the first phase is often irrelevant in this class. Emma also starts on The Buzz Factor, while, confusingly, there is another horse called Icarus entered under Isabel White.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
