Nicholson gives Burghley XC masterclass

Last year’s winner Andrew Nicholson is on target for a hat-trick of wins atthe Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, afterthe cross-country phase shook up the scoreboard.

Masterclass

Not a single rider made the optimum time round the course (6 September), but last to go Andrew Nicholson gave a masterclass in cross-country riding to bring Avebury home ahead of every other horse.

The combination, who claimed the Burghley title last year, finished 14 seconds behind the 11.19 minute optimum time (46.1pen). But given that other world-class combinations had been completing as much as a minute slower – that was no mean feat.

Andrew showed his experience and kicked all the way round, cutting some hair-raisingly tight lines through the obstacles.

“He feels the best when I am riding like I have stolen him,” he said. “Once you drop a little bit of time at the beginning then you are playing catch-up, so I had to ride him a little harder.

“Once I started to pick up the pace and cut inside the tracks where others had been, he started to feel great.”

Held twice

Fellow Kiwi Sam Griffiths finished just 10 seconds slower with Happy Times, putting him in second position going into the showjumping phase (49.8).

It was nearly a very different story, however, asSam was held up on the course – something which he thinks affected his performance.

“I was stopped twice on course,” he told H&C. “The rest may have helped a bit, but it really broke my rhythm and he stopped being quite as fluent as he was before.”

The best of the Brits

British rider Oliver Townend has jumped up from twelth to third on the leaderboard after a storming round with Armada (55.1pen).

Oliver narrowly escaped disaster when Armada got a front leg caught on his way into the water at the Trout Hatchery, but the experienced combination managed to recover quickly and complete the course in style.

Oliver, like all the other riders, found the optimum time impossible to catch.

“I was surprised how much I found myself behind the time – I was going nearly as quickly as I dared,” he said.

It’s still all to play for though as Jock Paget, who led after the dressage, lies fourth after a clear but steady cross-country round with Clifton Promise (55.2pen), and Great Britain’s Izzy Taylor sits in fifth after a great ride from KBIS Briarlands Matilda (59.5). William Fox-Pitt is not out top place contention either, as he sits in sixth with Bay My Hero (69.0pen).