Ros Canter has slotted into second in the Defender Burghley Horse Trials dressage standings, just 0.4 of a penalty behind leaders Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent.
Ros and Lordships Graffalo, owned by Michele and Archie Saul, put in a super test – accurate, smooth and powerful – to score 22.4. They earned the first 10 of the competition, from Christina Klingspor at E for their final centreline and halt.
Ros and Lordships Graffalo are the defending Burghley champions and won Badminton Horse Trials for the second time this spring. They start this year’s Burghley as favourites.
“There’s a fair amount of pressure when it comes to riding Lordships Graffalo – he doesn’t often do a bad test or make mistakes – so it’s all about trying to eke out as many marks as we can,” said Ros Canter of her Burghley Horse Trials dressage test.
“But I was particularly thrilled with the flying changes today – we missed two of those at Badminton. They have always been something that we kind of get, but they wouldn’t necessarily be 100% believable. I’ve worked hard on those since May and today, they just felt really secure.”
Ros is pregnant with her second child.
“I feel good. I felt good in there, maybe a touch out for breath occasionally,” she laughed. “Tomorrow’s another day. We’ll go out for another bike round the course and we take every day as it comes. But at the moment, it’s all systems go.”
The rider withdrew from selection for the European Eventing Championships in two weeks’ time when she announced her pregnancy and she explained the decision to come to Burghley rather than potentially go there.
“Very simply, the Europeans is a team competition. Pregnancy progresses day by day and I wouldn’t know whether I would want to compete in two weeks’ time or not. It wouldn’t have sat well with me if I’d had to pull out last minute or if I had not been able to ride at my best for a team championship.
“Burghley is a completely individual event and it’s entirely down to me if I choose to go or not. It’s up to my family and my owners and we’ve all been working together to make the decision.”
Ros added that Lordships Graffalo has been high maintenance in the stable this week and her groom Sarah Charnley has had her work cut out.
She said: “I’m coaching Cassie Sanger, who is based with me at home, and he’s got quite attached to her horse. So he’s running around the stable a little bit and he escaped yesterday morning. He’s probably given Sarah a few bruises. He’s been fairly high maintenance, like a pop star.
“I get the pleasure of riding him and the moment you put his tack on and I get on him, he’s happy as larry, so it doesn’t translate to that – he’s been kind of bright, but only in a nice way.”
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