Jonathan Paget has ridden the test of his life aboard Clifton Promise to sit in fourth place after a hugely competitive dressage phase at the 2013 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials in the UK this morning.
In his first ever Badminton outing, Paget and the Frances Stead-owned New Zealand thoroughbred are just 3.7 penalty points behind leader Michael Jung (GER) aboard La Biosthetique Sam FBW.
It’s not his best ever score, but all the same puts him less than a showjumping rail apart from Jung, the reigning World, Olympic and European champ – all on 12-year-old Sam – who is also on debut at Badminton..
The second day of the dressage has every bit lived up to the hype that the 2013 field is arguably the best ever. Scores just kept getting better and better.
Understandably, 29-year-old Paget is chuffed with Promise, on whom he was part of the bronze medal-winning team at the London Olympics, 7th individual at the 2010 World Equestrian Championships, and second at the 2012 4* Pau in France.
“Certainly that first half of his dressage test was the best he has ever done,” said Paget, who spent a month training with Jung. “Promise got a little excited going into the second half but did well . . . very well.”
After getting disappointing marks with his second mount Clifton Lush (owned by Lucy Allison and Frances Stead) yesterday, he was determined to come out firing from the start.
“I thought Lush was perfect yesterday and didn’t put a step out of place but they (the judges) didn’t give him the marks. I thought he should have been in the low forties, but instead he’s on 48.2.”
The combination are in 24th equal place.
The battle royale between the world’s number one ranked rider Andrew Nicholson and William Fox-Pitt (GBR) is alive and well, with just .2 of a penalty point between the two. Fox-Pitt and his New Zealand-bred thoroughbred Parkland Hawk sit on 40, with 51-year-old Nicholson and his Olympic mount Nereo (owned by Libby Sellar) on 40.2.
Tomorrow’s cross country will be interesting for all.
“I’m not getting too excited at the moment,” says Paget. “There’s still a lot to be done.”
His aim is to be clear and inside the time allowed but he says it’s going to be tricky with a course that throws up constant challenges.
Results -
Michael Jung (GER) La Biosthetique Sam FBW 36 1, Stefano Brecciaroli (ITA) Apollo VD Wendi Kurt Hoeve 36.8 2, Dirk Schrade (GER) King Artus 39.2 3, Jonathan Paget (NZL) Clifton Promise (owned by Frances Stead) 39.7 4, William Fox-Pitt (GBR) Parklane Hawk 40 5, Andrew Nicholson (NZL) Nereo (owned by Libby Sellar) 40.2 6, Sandra Auffarth (HER) Opgun Louvo 41.3 and Pippa Funnell (GBR) Redesigned 41.3 =7, Christopher Burton (AUS) Holstein Park Leilani 43 9, Andrew Nicholson (NZL) Averbury (owned by Mark and Rosemary Barlow and Nicholson) 45 14, Jonathan Paget (NZL) Clifton Lush (owned by Lucy Allison and Frances Stead) 48.2 =24, Lucy Jackson (NZL) Animator II (owned by Nigel and Ann Taylor, Kathy Brown and Jackson) 51.5 and Mark Todd (NZL) Ravenstar (owned by Team Rutledge) 51.5 =35, Caroline Powell (NZL) Onwards and Upwards (owned by Cameron and Mary Crawford and Powell) 56.8 =56, Caroline Powell (NZL) Boston Two Tip (owned by Alan Bell and Powell) and Megan Heath (NZL) St Daniel 59.7 =65, Lucy Jackson (NZL) Willy Do (owned by Gillian Greenlees and Jackson) 63.3 =78,
Mark Todd (NZL) Major Milestone (owned by Diane Brunsden and Peter Cattell) 67.8 82.
For full results head to http://results.badminton-horse.co.uk/results/2013_results/dressage_results.aspx
Diana Dobson
ESNZ High Performance Media Liaison
