Falling flags, few clears inside the time and a serious five-star test summarises a fast-paced day of cross-country action at the Mars Badminton Horse Trials today (10 May).
Dressage leaders Oliver Townend and the mare Cooley Rosalent remain out in front with just the final showjumping phase to go.
They temporarily dropped down the order when they were given 15 faults for taking out the red flag* at the second corner out of Equidry’s Huntsman’s Close (26b), but they were removed after a review by the ground jury.
“I don’t think there was an incident. My foot has taken the flag out but she definitely jumped the fence,” said Oliver.
“It’s becoming a bit difficult this flag situation because it makes it difficult for the public and us to follow. I hope it will be sorted out. I think it’s a shame that we have to do quite so much talking about flags. It’s boring.”
Chilli Knight moves up
The same red flag also fell to the ground when passed by Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo, who now lie second overnight after pulling off the fastest round of the day that was 11 seconds under the 11 minutes and 40 seconds optimum time.
“Walter jumped the jump but we just tipped it [the flag],” said Ros. “He just found the distance a little bit short and gave himself a touch more room. I was very confident [that the penalities would be removed].”
Gemma and Chilli Knight were fifth out of the startbox this morning and became the first to show that the time was achievable when they stopped the clock with one second to spare.
They have moved up to third, ahead of Ireland’s Austin O’Connor with Colorado Blue and Britain’s Harry Meade aboard Superstition, who finished bang on the optimum.
“I’m not going to lie, that was cool,” said Gemma after her round.
“The log ditch log [KBIS Chasm, fence 15abc] was keeping me awake last night, but I have no idea why as he made it feel like an exercise in the school.”
Harry Meade’s double
Harry Meade also has Cavalier Crystal inside the top 10 this evening — seventh — after a speedy penalty-free round.
“It’s all credit to the whole team, because we had two horses inside the time [at Rolex Kentucky CCI5*] two weeks ago and now two here. The common denominator is a great team at home,” said Harry.
“I’m very proud of the horses but I’m also very proud of the guys who work so hard, week in week out, totally committed to the horses.”
Harry initially crossed the finish line on his second ride to discover that 15 penalties had been added for knocking out the white flag on the skinny in the water at Mars Lake (10c), but these were removed.
Germany’s Christoph Wahler riding D’Accord FRH — the sixth duo to get the time — lie sixth overnight thanks to a speedy clear.
Oliver’s first ride, his Tokyo team gold medal winner Ballaghmor Class, is in eighth, ahead of New Zealand’s Tim Price on Vitali and Ireland’s Ian Cassells, who rounds off the top 10 with Master Point.
Image gallery: top 10
Keep scrolling to see the overnight top 10 in action today around.
1, Oliver Townend on Cooley Rosalent
Oliver has been hunting a second victory here for some time now. His win came back in 2009 on Flint Curtis, and since then he has been second three times and third once.
Could ‘Rosie’ be the mare to help him do it?
“She’s 11, which is young enough at the level, and she’s a very sensitive mare. She’s pretty much the opposite of Ballaghmor Class,” said Oliver.
“You have to mind her a little bit and she’s shy with the people. As the course went on and the questions became stronger she started to warm into it and enjoy it. I thought by the time we jumped through the lake, ‘okay, we’re away now”.
2, Ros Canter on Lordships Graffalo
“He’s an extraordinary horse. I’m not even the fastest rider in the world but he’s got such acceleration right to the end. I’m a lucky girl to have him,” said Ros. “I broke him in as a three-year-old and I’ve enjoyed riding him from the start. He genuinely loves it.
“At my final minute marker I thought maybe I’m not as far up as I think, so I let him go and thought, ‘holy moly you are flying!’ I’ve never jumped the last fence at Badminton with quite that feeling.”
3, Gemma Stevens on Chilli Knight
“Last time here I had no control, but I changed the bit last year and it worked at Burghley and he was unbelievable today,” said Gemma.
“He still throws his head around and he says, ‘don’t make me whoa’, but he at least knows now that I’m whoa-ing for a jump, so he does have some respect.”
4, Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue
“There would be something very wrong with me if I wasn’t smiling after that. He’s always been very fit and strong but I think even at the age of 15 he’s getting better. He was pretty foot perfect from where I was sat,” said Austin after his round.
“I’m very lucky with the owners I have. They’ve been very patient. It may look like he’s done a lot but up to the age of 11/12 he was very lightly campaigned.
“Hours of hacking, hours of conditioning, things like that. He’s got stacks of ability and I said coming here he’s in the form of his life.”
5, Harry Meade and Superstition
“He hasn’t run cross-country at all since Burghley last September. That’s pretty unusual, but I reckoned I could do all the prep at home.
“I think people thought I’d entered him but wouldn’t run him,” said Harry of this horse, who was seventh out of the startbox this morning and finished bang on the optimum time.
“I jumped two showjumps at about 90cms [in the warm-up today] and then the main thing was to keep him relaxed and then try to go like a scolded cat.”
6, Christoph Wahler on D’Accord FRH
Christoph is competing at Badminton for the second time.
“I was a bit less nervous, you know the place and you know you’ll be terribly nervous on cross-country day, nothing changes about that, but I’m very pleased with my horse,” said the German rider.
“He was incredible my horse. He was impressed by the first few fences and jumped carefully but then he got going and settled into it.”
7, Harry Meade and Cavalier Crystal
This horse came home seven seconds under the optimum time.
“[Being quick is about] not being greedy,” disclosed Harry. “When you gallop you want them to breathe and gallop with, metaphorically, a resting heart rate.
“Obviously it’s not (resting), but it’s an endurance test and it’s about trying to make each fence easy for them.
“Let the momentum take them uphill and when going downhill let them fill their lungs. I try and go into the next fence thinking it is going to upset the applecart so I never rest of on my laurels because that’s when it goes wrong.”
8, Tim Price on Vitali
Tim and Vitali were the final combination to tackle the Eric Winter-designed cross-country course this afternoon.
“The cross-country is a joy, but I’m not looking forward to showjumping,” said Tim with a smile.
“The margins for doing [a course like this] correctly or incorrectly are very small, but he’s a professional and I’m proud of him.”
9, Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class
Oliver Townend was second out on Ballaghmor Class, his two-time Burghley winner (in 2023 and 2017), this morning and came home with 4.8 time penalties.
“He enjoyed the ride more than I did — I enjoyed the finish line,” said Oliver with a smile.
“He’s a good little horse as we all know and he’s very keen these days and there’s not a lot to back him off, which sounds ridiculous at Badminton, but the skinny rails he’s not too worried about.
“The bigger the fence, the more beautiful he is to ride to it.”
10, Ian Cassells on Master Point
Irish rider Ian Cassells is the highest placed first-timer after cross-country, sitting in tenth overnight riding Bridget McGing’s Master Point.
Ian runs his own yard near Dublin and enjoys teaching.
He is on target for his fourth CCI5* completion tomorrow, having previously completed Pau, Burghley and Luhmuhlen.
After adding just 3.6 time penalties to their dressage score the pair moved up from equal 18th after dressage here to complete the top ten overnight.
Out of contention
Several names who appeared in the top 10 after dressage have dropped out of contention:
Tom McEwen and JL Dublin
Lying second after dressage, a tiring JL Dublin broke the frangible pins at the first corner in Huntsman’s Close (26a) and incurred 11 penalties.
The rider nursed the horse home with 10.8 time-faults to add and they now lie 16th overnight.
Gemma Stevens and Jalapeno
Gemma retired this mare, who was third after dressage, after a run-out at the second of two Agria Corners (7).
“She’s an old lady and if it’s not her day, it’s not her day. I can tell you something now, if she doesn’t want to do something, she’s not going to do it,” said Gemma.
“She actually started brilliantly. I was spot on at the first one and she just said, ‘no, not my day’. I walked her home because there’s always another day.”
Tom Woodward and Low Moor Lucky
The same corner was the undoing of this combination, and Tom retired after a run-out.
The Badminton first timers made a big impression when they put themselves into the reckoning with a brilliant dressage test good enough for sixth overnight.
Fiona Kashel and Creevagh Silver De Haar
They pulled off a dressage personal best for seventh place overnight, despite Fiona realising just a week ago that she had learned the wrong test — and she had been practising it since February.
This pair have plenty to celebrate this evening after coming home clear today, and after declaring yesterday that she “hates” cross-country, Fiona won’t be too worried about the 24 time-faults they picked up, which dropped them out of the top 25.
Yasmin Ingham and Rehy DJ
Time penalties (9.6) caused this duo to slip from eighth after dressage to 14th tonight. They are only 4.4 penalties outside of the top 10 and so a clear showjumping round tomorrow could see them climb back up.
Top 10 after cross-country
- Britain’s Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent: 21.1 (dressage) + 1.2 (cross-country time-faults) = 22.3
- Britain’s Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo: 22.4 + 0 = 25.3
- Britain’s Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight, 29.5 + 0 = 29.5
- Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue, 30.8 + 0 = 30.8
- Britain’s Harry Meade and Superstition, 31.8 + 0 = 31.8
- Germany’s Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH, 32.2 + 0 = 32.2
- Britain’s Harry Meade and Cavalier Crystal, 33.8 + 0 = 33.8
- Britain’s Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class, 29.3 + 4.8 = 34.1
- New Zealand’s Tim Price and Vitali, 30.6 + 3.6 = 34.2
- Ireland’s AIan Cassells and Master Point, 30.7 + 3.6 = 34.3
A total of 12 penalties — the equivalent of three rolled fences — separate the top 10 going into tomorrow’s showjumping, so there is plenty to play for.
The final horse inspection will take place first and only those passed as fit by the ground jury will allowed to participate in the final phase.
*About the flags
All fences on a cross-country course are marked on either side with flags: white flags on the left, red flags on the right.
A penalty-free round requires rider and horse to pass between the middle of the flags.
If a flag is knocked down, 15 penalties are automatically awarded and appear on the leaderboard with an asterix, which means they are under review.
When the ground jury have reviewed video footage of the fence to see whether the horse and rider both passed the correct side of the flag, they decide whether the penalties should be upheld or removed.
The leaderboard is updated accordingly.
Images by Tim Wilkinson. Additional images courtesy of Badminton Horse Trials.
Additional reporting by Natalie Clark
