Austria’s Harald Ambros, a full-time dentist, has been riding Vitorio Du Montet before work at 5.30am in order to prepare for Mars Badminton Horse Trials.
The 45-year-old father of two last rode here in 2007, when he finished 18th aboard Miss Ferrari.
“The last six weeks have been really hard, because I did the training in the morning at half past five before starting work at half past seven,” said Harald. “Some days [I work] up to five o’clock in the evening and then start training again.”
Vitorio Du Montet was produced to five-star level by French rider Maxime Livio and they were fifth at Pau in 2021.
Harald bought the horse two years ago from Czech rider Eliska Opravilova and he rode the 16-year-old Selle Francais gelding at the Paris Olympic Games.
He is bidding for a ticket to the European Championships at Blenheim later this year.
“I know Blenheim because I did the Europeans [there] 20 years ago,” said Harald.
“I know it’s very uphill and very strong, so I said Vitorio is a good horse, he can do five-star and he can do Badminton. It’s flatter [than Blenheim] and not so uphill. I made the decision and I started training in February.”
Back at Badminton
Harald has been a member of 12 Austrian teams at Olympics, Worlds and Europeans. His first team call up was in 2001, when he won individual gold at the young rider championships.
The rider noted that the direction of this year’s cross-country course is the same as when he last rode at Badminton 18 years ago.
“It was also really nice weather then. There was a lot of sand and ground preparation,” he said. “We love this [nice weather] more than rainy conditions so I think it’s better. I’m happy.”
He also confessed that although Vitorio is typically a fast horse, he won’t be pushing for the time tomorrow.
“When you are young you try this and when you are older, like me now, you are happy to stay alive and to be here,” said Harald.
“I’m very happy that I have the possibility to have a horse [at Badminton] again. I’ve had a lot of horses and I could have nominated them for this event but I wouldn’t have passed the cross-country because they didn’t have enough blood.
“They did do Europeans and Worlds, but Badminton is much stronger. You have to be lucky to have the right horse and we’ll try to do our best.”
Main image by Tim Wilkinson
