EVENTING News


Burghley bound Kiwis seeking Glory
Tuesday, 30 August 2016


New Zealand eventers are being pegged as some of the riders to watch at the 2016 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials this week.

The Kiwis are among riders from Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, USA and the UK who are competing for the substantial £63,000 first prize.

Husband and wife team Tim and Jonelle Price have a trio of horses there – Tim with Bango and Ringwood Sky Boy, and Jonelle with Classic Moet.

Both are excited to be heading to Burghley.

“It will be a good week,” says Tim. “Those horses are all on good form.”

Former Burghley winner Caroline Powell has both Flying Finish and Onwards and Upwards, while Blyth Tait has Bear Necessity V, Dan Jocelyn has Dassett Cool Touch and Sir Mark Todd has NZB Campino. Andrew Nicholson has Nereo and Qwanza entered and will be looking to claim another slice of history.

A win for him would surely be a fairy tale result. Aside from owning the historic hat-trick of wins, he is coming back from a fall in 2015 that resulted in a serious neck injury which in most cases causes paralysis.

New Zealand has a rich history at Burghley, with Nicholson the only person to hold a unique hat-trick of wins, with two other victories also to his credit. Todd and Tait are also multiple winners, with Caroline Powell also on the role of honour.

New Zealand eventing selector Judy Bradwell won on Don Camillo in 1970, with other notable winners including HRH Princess Anne aboard Doublet and long-time cross country designer Captain mark Phillips taking it out in 1973 aboard Maid Marion.

Phillips, who has been involved with the event since 1989 and the cross country designer since 2005, says change to the course is important.

Courage and commitment is the name of the game. Word is riders will have to give the course a lot of thought to determine the best game plan for their horses over the 2016 track.

Back in the early days, Burghley was a “real speed and endurance test, and not just a cross country test”, according to Phillips.

“Horses today have to be as fit as a race horse . . . and that is the problem, to be that fit and brave to take on these fences, they also have to be quiet enough to do the dressage and careful enough to do the showjumping.”

His 2016 course is being described as a bit of a homage to old-fashioned horsemanship and course building.

“I think changes are important, the one thing you don’t want as a course designer is for the riders to be complacent,” says Phillips. “We don’t want them to say ‘same as last year’ and walk on. They really need to respect these fences, they are big fences and they have to be jumped.”

The FEI Classics Series also wraps up at Burghley. Tim Price is the best placed of the Kiwis to pounce, sitting in second place behind Michael Jung (GER) who will not be contesting the final event.

However, Jung sits on a mighty 42 points, thanks to wins at the Rolex and Badminton, so is untouchable. Price is on 18, with Clarke Johnstone on 16 in third. Sir Mark Todd is in seventh place on 13 points.

The winner of Burghley will receive 15 points, with second garnering 12, third will get 10 and fourth eight. With Jung and Johnstone not starting, along with the current fourth-placed Astier Nicolas (FRA) and sixth placed Andreas Dibowski (GER), expect to see a battle royale for the minor series money.

With $US30,000 and $US20,000 on the line for the second and third placed in the series, no-one will be giving an inch.

The event gets under way with the first horse inspection on August 31, followed by two days of dressage, the cross country and finally the showjumping.

What: Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials
When August 31-September 4, 2016
Where: Stamford, Lincolnshire, UK
For more info: www.burghley-horse.co.uk
Latest results: www.bdwp.co.uk
Latest FEI Classics standings: http://inside.fei.org/system/files/Classics%2520Standings%25202016%2520%2528%25205th%2520event%2529.pdf

The horse details -

Bango (owned by The Numero Uno Syndicate), Ringwood Sky Boy (owned by Varenna Allen, Robert Taylor, Selwood.com and Tim Price), Bear Necessity V (owned by Ronnie Bartlett), Classic Moet (owned by Trisha Rickards and Jonelle Price), Dassett Cool Touch (owned by Therese Miller and Dan Jocelyn), Flying Finish (owned by Richard Ames and Caroline Powell), Onwards and Upwards (owned by Mr and Mrs Cameron Crawford and Caroline Powell), Nereo (owned by Deborah Sellar), Qwanza (owned by Mark and Rosemary Barlow), NZB Campino (owned by Sir Peter Vela and Sir Mark Todd).