PrintSeptember 4, England - New Zealander Caroline Powell is poised to become the fourth rider from her country to win the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, the fourth leg of the HSBC FEI Classics.
The 37-year-old, who is based in Scotland, produced a foot-perfect round on the 17-year-old gray Lenamore, one of the best cross-country horses on the international circuit.
Powell has never won a CCI**** before, and she was cautious in her celebrations tonight as she does not have a fence in-hand over two Brits, Oliver Townend, the defending champion on Carousel Quest, and five-time winner William Fox-Pitt, who is lying third on Seacookie.
Powell had to call on all her experience to remain focused during a one-hour delay while medical staff attended to Great Britain’s Nicola Malcolm, Powell’s near neighbor in Scotland, who was airlifted to the hospital after a fall with McFly at fence 19, a hedge. Malcolm was later reported to be conscious and likely to be discharged tomorrow morning.
“The wait didn’t bother me too much as it’s happened to me before, and I knew I was going out there on a horse that knows its job so well,” said Powell. “He’s a very special horse, and he just loves it.”
Mary King, the 1996 Burghley winner, was the only rider to complete two clear rounds inside the time, to end the day in fourth on Apache Sauce and fifth on her home-bred mare Kings Temptress.
Dressage leader Ruth Edge, departed from the reckoning when Two Thyme refused at the hedge out of the water at the Trout Hatchery (fence 10), but 19-year-old Christoffer Forsberg of Sweden, fifth after dressage, had a first Burghley to remember when he went clear, albeit with 15.2 time penalties, on the 18-year-old Forsberg and is now in 20th place. “It is a dream to be here,” he said.
Mark Todd, a five-time winner on his first Burghley ride since 2000, is lying 11th with Major Milestone; Ireland’s Geoff Curran is the best of the 25 Burghley first-timers, in 12th place on The Jump Jet; and Pippa Funnell, enjoying her first return for six years, is in 19th place on Mirage d’Elle, having had 20 penalties for a refusal on the edge of the steep drop at fence 4, the Leaf Pit, rescinded.
Andrew Nicholson, winner of Burghley in 1995 and 2000, is in 13th place on Armada, but dropped down the order with Avebury after the grey gelding ran out at the second corner at the Land Rover Dairy Farm (fence 17b).
Michael Pollard, the only U.S. rider at Burghley this year, retired on course with Wonderful Will.
Riders were full of praise for Mark Phillips’s cross-country course, where the lines were deemed to be “horse-friendly.” There were 47 clear rounds, 11 inside the optimum time of 10 minutes 54 seconds, and 58 of the 72 starters completed.
“Mark Phillips and his team have done a brilliant job,” said Townend. “It was what you expect Burghley to be: big, exciting and demanding attacking riding.”
Results
