Alex Bragg has produced the first round inside the time over the Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course in 2024.
Riding The Roe Family’s Quindiva, who was third at Badminton Horse Trials in May, Alex had a super round to finish two seconds under the 11min 16sec optimum time, saying: “She’s really taken to this sport now. It’s taken time to build that confidence, but honestly, when you leave that start box, she’s just like a demon. She grows horns and there is nothing that’s going to stop her. And I’m just the lucky person to be sat on board steering.”
Alex continued: “You have to work with that much scope. She can almost jump herself into trouble, so you have to take a breath and not let the adrenaline take over too much and remember those drops after the fences are punishing if you come in too big.
“Last year here, she finished with so much fuel in the tank and then again at Badminton again and I just felt like I was always protecting her. I felt if I was just brave enough to let her go a little bit in the beginning, then we had a really good chance to finish inside the time anywhere.
“She’s fast, she’s neat. She does spend a lot of time in the air, but we train a lot on the technicality stuff. It’s all about discipline and training and we work so hard with our team on all the technical side, with my showjumping coach Jeremy Scott. Everything is down to being disciplined, straight and accurate, sticking to those rules, and then it makes the job so much easier for the horses and us.”
Ireland’s Austin O’Connor sits third on the leaderboard at this early stage after 4.8 time-faults with last year’s Maryland 5 Star winner Colorado Blue. He was a little disappointed to be over the time on this quick horse, but explained he “just wanted to get those first half dozen fences out of the way” – unsurprising as he had a run-out at the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit last year.
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Burghley debutant Felix Vogg (14th after dressage) also had a good round on Cartania, taking all the straight routes for 12 time-faults, and holds fourth place of those who have completed so far.
The Swiss rider said he made some small mistakes, including when the mare tripped at the Trout Hatchery (fence 10 and 11abc): “I took a forward distance there, which wasn’t really clever. Usually I feel how I will ride a course on the last walk – I want to look smooth, it’s good for the horse, good to watch — but somehow I didn’t feel it last night. I tried this morning again, again not. Still I cannot complain and she was absolutely amazing.”
British Burghley debut Libby Seed had to sit tight when Heartbreaker Star Quality, by Boswell Mr Heart Breaker, paddled over the angled house on a long two strides out of Defender Dairy Mound (23abc), but she stuck with the mare and came home with 12.4 time-faults.
“I’m so proud of her. She galloped so well up those hills. She’s not bred to gallop, she’s bred to jump and we’ve worked really hard on her fitness, and she was just phenomenal. We helped each other out and she gave me such a feeling. It’s just such a buzz,” said Libby, an amateur rider who works in the medical devices industry.
On the downside, Phil Brown had a fall when Harry Robinson didn’t have the power to get over the Irish Horse Board Cottesmore Leap and jumped into the ditch. Both horse and rider walked away.
And sadly there was no fairytale ending to Alfies Clover’s career. The grey five-star stalwart will retire after Burghley and his trip ended early when Richard Jones pulled up after 20 penalties on the first pass through Defender Valley (5abc).
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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.
