Holly Richardson has achieved the first clear inside the time on Mars Badminton Horse Trials cross-country day (Saturday, 9 May).
The North Yorkshire rider was fifth out and piloted Fi and Issy Saxby’s 11-year-old Ballyneety Silver Service round to come home 12 seconds inside the 11min 30sec optimum time, following their fast round at Burghley last year.
After her impressive Badminton Horse Trials cross-country round, Holly Richardson said: “He’s an extremely fast horse, so I knew if any of them could do it, he can do it. He can open his stride and close it so easily and he’s polite – you can set him up right at the last minute. He’s also an extremely fast galloper – I don’t think I’ve sat on one that can gallop like him. It’s just a privilege to sit on him.”
Holly has started here once before, on Bally Louis in 2024, but seeks a first completion. She will ride Bally Louis round the course later today.
Harry Meade had a super ride as pathfinder over Eric Winter’s course on his own and Mandy Gray’s Et Hop Du Matz, guiding him through all the straight routes to finish 11sec over target. Although the horse is a Badminton first-timer, he has finished on the podium at Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event and ninth at Defender Burghley Horse Trials last year.
“I just tried to set off in the spirit in which I meant to keep going and he was galloping, ears picked, jumping. He was good at all the questions. He was superb and I couldn’t have been happier with him,” said Harry.
“For me, the biggest thing was that I think he absolutely loved that – he had a big beam on his face, it’s his first Badminton and he smiled the whole way round and finished full of running.”
Harry was followed by young US rider Cosby Green, who came home clear with 13.6 time-faults on her parents Clay and Edie’s Jos Ufo De Quidam.
She had a slightly dodgy moment when taking out a stride at the Mayston Equestrian Hollow (fence 26abc), a big drop to two arrowheads, and took the slightly slower route at Spillers Sustainability Bay (fence 20abcd).
Tom Jackson gave a great ride to the 10-year-old five-star first-timer United 36, owned by Michael Stenning, and the pair finished eight seconds over the time.
“It’s just quite unbelievable, actually, for a 10-year-old to come here and do that – this time last year, he hadn’t even done a four-star long and he just ate that up and made it feel like he’d been doing it for however many years before,” said Tom, admitting he’d been a little dubious about whether it was the right decision to enter.
“Like I said beforehand, the cross-country is reasonably straight in front of you, so I think it is one of those tracks that rides as it walks.”
New Zealand’s Caroline Powell, the fourth out, had a fall when High Time caught a knee on one of the big brush corners at the Rathbones Curve (fence 28ab). Both horse and rider walked away.
Gemma Stevens was going brilliantly on Chilli Knight until shortly before she pulled up after the Luckington Lane Corners (fences 23 and 24) – it looked like the Bicton Horse Trials 2021 five-star winner might have pulled off a shoe.
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