Defending champion Ros Canter will lead at the conclusion of the Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country today (Saturday 6 September), having put in the only round inside the time over Derek di Grazia’s course.
Ros and Lordships Graffalo, owned by Michele and Archie Saul, had an absolutely foot-perfect round – they appeared to cruise over Burghley’s undulations, with Ros barely moving in the saddle as she set up the 13-year-old in perfect balance for combination after combination. The tricky fences which have caught out so many – the Trout Hatchery, Joules at the Maltings, Defender Valley – looked like schooling exercises for this superlative pair.
“Lordships Graffalo is the most incredible horse – there is no other horse where you can spend time preparing for the fences to make sure you get it right and still cruise home inside the time. He gives me every opportunity to ride well,” said Ros Canter, who finished eight seconds inside the time over the Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course.
“I do always move the minute markers up 10 seconds to give me a buffer. I felt I was a bit down on the way round, which is quite good for me as it makes me keep trying harder, and he did feel a bit wearier in his gallop than usual,” she said, adding that the “insane” crowd lifted “Walter” as she came back through Defender Valley over the Defender Lodge (fence 27).
“I nearly had half a smile and thought, ‘Don’t you dare’ as he was getting a bit lower and I had to concentrate.”
‘It was down to me to make a calculated decision’
Ros is pregnant with her second child and said she had to change her style slightly today, riding with longer reins, because she is not as strong in her upper body as usual.
“I felt good this morning,” she said, when asked about the decision to run across country here. “On Thursday, there was lots of chat about my condition and everything else – it sews the seeds of doubt a little bit.
“But once I got my dressage test done, I felt good doing that and I walked the course and got in the right frame of mind. I felt very much in the competition. I did hop on him this morning for my benefit, just to pop a few fences and thought, ‘You are just Ros and it’s Walter and we can go and do what we do.’
“I always wanted to do it, so up to a point it was mind over matter because of course you have many people with many different opinions, who’d like to tell you what they think, which is absolutely fine. I just had to make a choice with the people who were important to me and I had unwavering support from my family and my husband Chris.
“[Lordships Graffalo’s owners] Michele and Archie always wanted me to come, but never put me under any pressure to come. I felt like I was riding well and it was down to me to make a calculated decision.”
Asked if she would sleep well tonight, Ros said: “I hope so – I slept really badly last night, partly because I was feeling nervous, partly because Chris and [our daughter] Ziggy came yesterday and it was three in a bed on the Luton and I was feeling cold because they took all the duvet.”
Ros was second after dressage, but first-phase leaders Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent had a run-out today so have slipped down the leaderboard.
Just before Ros set out, Emily King, sixth after dressage, lost her chance of a good placing when she had a run-out at the angled brush shoulder at the Boodles Raindance (fence 7bc) with Valmy Biats and then retired.
The following rider, Germany’s Christoph Wahler (seventh after dressage), had a risky moment when he scraped over the second two elements at the Defender Dairy Mound (fence 9abc) with D’Accord, and then was jumped off at the Burghley House Turrets at fence 14.
To stay up-to-date with all the breaking news throughout Burghley and other major shows this year, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website, from £1 a week. Horse & Hound’s 20-page magazine report on Burghley is published in 11 September issue, including full analysis and exclusive comment from six-time Burghley winner William Fox-Pitt.
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What do Ros Canter, Oliver Townend and Harry Meade have to jump this week? Full Burghley cross-country course photos
Meet the ex-racehorse who cost less than £2,000 and is tackling his first Burghley
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