Top rider takes Gatcombe open title for the first time while Oliver Townend and Pippa Funnell rue low entries

Tim Price took his first Gatcombe Horse Trials British open championship title at the Magic Millions Festival of British Eventing today (7 August). Riding Joe and Alex Giannamore’s Vitali, Tim cruised around the Captain Mark Phillips-designed cross-country track, clocking just four time-faults.

New Zealander Tim led the dressage on a score of 23, but three time-faults in the showjumping then dropped them to second prior to the cross-country. But two-phase leader Pippa Funnell and Billy Walk On incurred 8.4 cross-country time-faults, which dropped them to eventual third in the Gatcombe Horse Trials British open championship.

“I saw a few waiting distances and with everything being so busy and when the stride gets longer, things [distances] get a bit closer, so it was quite difficult to give him a smooth run everywhere,” said Tim afterwards. “But it was a good round and he came home very well.

“It’s always challenging when you’re going fast here and it’s always influential – the two corners at fence six were what caught some out today. But you just have to ride in a balance to make a lot of tight turns and then climb a few hills and come home with a healthy horse.”

Oliver Townend was crowned British National champion, as he was the highest-placed Brit, finishing second on Mark and Angela Chamberlayne’s Dreamliner.

Gatcombe Horse Trials British open championship: riders’ thoughts on low entries

Entries into the Magic Millions-sponsored British open championship were low this year, with just 19 combinations starting the competition.

“I love it here – you learn a lot about your horses and they come on for being here,” explained Oliver Townend. “You learn exactly what you’ve got from a stamina point of view and I think it’s a huge part of my horses’ progression to come here every year.

“It’s a special and unique venue. You look at the amount of five-star winners who have been novice or intermediate champion, for example, Land Vision, ODT Mouse, Navigator, Seacookie, Tamarillo, it’s endless which horses came here as young horses and turned out to be superstars.”

Although the country has been shrouded in hot weather recently, the going was good at Gatcombe this weekend.

“It’s very safe ground, I know it’s difficult when the place looks like a desert, but you can see where the horses have been down the hill, and touch wood, the horses have pulled up very, very well,“ said Oliver. “I’m a big fan of this place – it’s a shame that a lot of riders aren’t supporting it, but I think that’s more fashion driven than statistically driven. 

“I think there should be British young rider championships here. I feel like I leave this place, the horses come on for it and I ride better after I’ve been here because you have to sit on your backside and react. It’s good for the horses – William Fox-Pitt used to say it’s the only place you can actually put every horse in your yard that’s established at a level against their peers. And now that I’ve won the novice championship here this year, we know we have the best novice horse in the country.”

Pippa Funnell agreed with Oliver that it’s a shame more riders weren’t here to support the big class at Gatcombe.

“It’s just so sad, but in the old days, there used to be 50, 60, 70 starters. I think a lot of it is people like to protect their form – they don’t want to run risk with having 20 penalties and with the hills it’s quite a tough track stamina-wise,” she explained.

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