No horses or riders were hurt and 63 of the 40 horses who started jumped around clear. It was a good day for the Sport.’ Said course designer, Captain Mark Philips after today’s Cross Country.
It certainly did have a very chilled and relaxed feel to the day from my vantage point; the press area at the end of the course. From this cornered off area in the collecting ring, you get the whole range of emotions from the riders throughout the afternoon. Here’s what stood out for me today:
Burghley first-timer, Alex Postolowsky crying openly for about 5 minutes before her interview could take place. The emotions of jumping clear around the course had taken over and I’ve never seen someone sob for so long! It just shows how much jumped clear around this event means. She then beamed with excitement that she could wear the new dress that she’d bought for Sunday’s trot up!
Alex’s reaction was in stark contrast to Mr Chilled, Jock Paget. Does anything ruffle the Kiwi’s feathers? Mind you – no wonder he was calm and relaxed – he was lying in 1st and 2nd at the end of the day.
Oliver Townend on the verge of tears when describing his run-out aboard Armada. These top horses have a limited number of runs at this level and to post an excellent dressage score (43.7) to lie in the top 10, makes it even more frustrating. I’m sure Oliver will beat himself up about the mistake, but straight after his round he was pretty distraught about it.
And in other news…
My colleague, Rupert Bell, had an interesting introduction by the BBC Cambridge presenter before his 2-way. ‘So let’s head over to the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials where our reporter, Rupert Bear is reporting…!!”. He won’t forget that one!
Aly Rowell