Cassie Sanger made a splash yesterday on the Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country – the US rider is the youngest rider in the field, at only 20, and she put in an impressive round to finish with 9.2 time-faults. She and Redfield Fyre sit in 13th ahead of the showjumping.
“It’s definitely been a lifelong dream to be here,” said Cassie after her round. “Someone asked me, ‘When was the first time you really had your heart set on Burghley? And I said, ‘When I got my horse, Yogi.’ Because when we tried him, he was a seven-year-old, we took him cross-country schooling and we were all like, ‘that would be your first Burghley horse’. So for him to have done this is pretty special.”
Cassie is currently based with Burghley’s defending champion and overnight leader Ros Canter.
Her trip over the Atlantic has been partly funded by the Wilton Fair Grant. The Wilton Fair Fund, given by David and Cheryl Lenaburg in memory of their great event horse Wilton Fair, allows up to $100,000 (about £75,000) in grants to be given each year for educational opportunities for riders aged 29 and under who have not yet ridden for a senior team.
Asked about the experience of being based with Ros, Cassie said: “It’s been amazing. I couldn’t have wanted anything more. It’s exceeded all of my expectations. She’s really just taken me in. I feel like part of a family back at the barn and she’s just the most important coach and is there every step of the way for me.”
Cassie was the 12th rider out on the cross-country and didn’t watch anyone before she mounted, but Ros was watching and gave her feedback on the early rounds. The US rider also revealed the Olympic gold medallist helped her in another way before she started…
“I forgot my watch in the warm-up so she sprinted back and got me hers. She’s just the best,” she said.
Cassie said she was “very nervous” before her round but once she got on Redfield Fyre, whom she has had since she was 15, he gave her confidence.
“I said to someone right before I went out, ‘What if he doesn’t do this for me?’ And they were like, ‘Nope, he will. He’s 100% going to, if you get there a bit funny, if your plans don’t go just right, he’ll be there for you’,” she said.
“Some of my lines were not what I walked at all. I never planned to take five strides at the gates [LeMieux Paddock Gates, fence 13ab], but we got there and we shifted in and we were there on five and just went with it. That’s cross-country, you think on your feet and things come up naturally.”
She added that although Redfield Fyre is “huge, 17.3hh”, he is very clever with his footwork and at getting his body out of the way.
Cassie Sanger and Redfield Fyre had three showjumps down on their five-star debut at Kentucky Three-Day Event in April, where they finished 18th, so they will hope to improve on that this afternoon for a strong finish at their first Burghley Horse Trials.
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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Ros Canter leads after Burghley cross-country with superb performance, tweaking her style to account for her pregnancy
One horse withdrawn before Burghley final trot-up as 29 progress to showjumping
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