PrintIt's been 25 years since Andrew Hoy won his last Burghley CCI****--he won in 1979 with Davey. He celebrated that anniversary today with a win aboard Moon Fleet. "I think I might come back in 25 years and try again," quipped Hoy wryly.
Hoy and Moon Fleet came into the show jumping with two rails in hand. After a brilliant cross-country round the day before—the fastest of the day—Hoy had just 48.4 faults to second-placed Andrew Nicholson's 53.4 score aboard Lord Killinghurst. But Nicholson had two rails, dropping him to third, while the popular Marie-Louise "Bumble" Thomas put together one of only nine clean rounds today (out of 43 who show-jumped) to take over second. So, Thomas had a final score of 56.6-a mere 8.2 more than Hoy.
Hoy would need every bit of that cushion. Moon Fleet carelessly knocked the top rail of the vertical at the first fence out of the way, much to the crowd's dismay. "That definitely wasn't what I anticipated," said Hoy. "He warmed up very well, but on the way to the first fence, I went to balance him and he put his nose in the air and didn't see the fence till we got there."
Another miscommunication on the way to another vertical left Hoy with 8 faults and three more fences to jump. Moon Fleet might have rubbed the rails at all three, but he rubbed them the right way, because they stayed up. Hoy eked out the win by just .2 penalties over Thomas. He also rode Master Monarch, who was third after cross-country, to fourth, with just one rail today. Leslie Law had one rail on Shear H20 to claim fifth, while Polly Stockton picked up a rail to take sixth.
John Williams and Sloopy finished in 18th with two rails today-the top American placing. Heidi White collected just one time fault to take 23rd, while Nina Fout had two rails to finish in 25th. Ashley MacVaugh and All's Fair jumped to a 4-fault round to end up 36th, while Linden Wiesman had 8 faults and finished 40th. Kim Morani and Test Run had a nice 4-fault round, but rounded out the field in last in 43rd place.
While the festivities carried on, the flags around the arena flew at half mast, and the riders wore black armbands and paraded on foot. The death of Caroline Pratt on course yesterday dampened the mood considerably.
"We as riders are devastated by the tragic loss of Caroline Pratt. She was a most delightful person, a very skillful rider and a positive person who enjoyed her sport and the challenges it posed. Her character will be sadly missed," said Irish rider Eric Smiley.
Pratt suffered fatal injuries when her horse, Primitive Streak, flipped over the C element of the last water complex, fence 26ABC, and landed on her. She had been clean up to that point, and fence judges reported that her horse seemed to be running well and not overly fatigued. Pratt's accident happened as the fourth-to-last rider on course.
