Badminton, England—May 9

Andrew Nicholson has given himself the best possible chance of adding his name to the illustrious list of Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI**** winners by retaining his lead after dressage with a foot-perfect cross-country round on Deborah Sellar’s Nereo.

Despite earning numerous World and Olympic medals—and six Land Rover Burghley CCI**** (England) wins—Badminton is the one title that has thus far eluded the New Zealander.

His round aboard Nereo was brilliant and he brought the 15-year-old gelding home just one second under the optimum time.

“I’m going to go home tonight and spend some time with my young children and feed the chickens—do all the normal things—then I will come back tomorrow and focus on trying to jump a clear round,” said Nicholson.

The top three after the dressage phase retained their places with Britain’s William Fox-Pitt and Chilli Morning turning in a similarly inspiring round to stay on their dressage score of 39.

“I didn’t really enjoy the wait [to ride at the end of the day]—I’ve been jumping around on bouncy castles and pretending that I’m not at Badminton,” joked Fox-Pitt, who headed two Badminton fresh off a fourth-place finish at the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** with Bay My Hero. 

“Chilli was magic, though; he’s a superb horse who rolls up his sleeves and says, ‘Let’s get at it’. Sometimes it’s not poetry in motion, but he’s so genuine. When he argues a bit it gives me confidence that he’s up for it.”

William Fox Pitt and Chilli Morning added nothing to their dressage score to sit second. Photo by Mitsubishi Motors/Kit Houghton.

Oliver Townend piloted Paul and Diana Ridgeon’s Armada to a clear round inside the time to keep his third spot going into tomorrow’s show jumping.

“He was pure class,” said Townend. “When he jumped the first fence and ran away with me down the hill out of the arena I knew he felt on top form and I knew it would be up to me to try and steer him round. Some of the strides he picked up to fences felt very special. I doubt I’ll ever feel anything like it again.”

Oliver Townend held onto his third-place position with Armada, less than a rail off the lead heading into show jumping. Photo by Mitsubishi Motors/Kit Houghton.

Less than one fence separates the top five after cross-country, with Germany’s Ingrid Klimke (Horseware Hale Bob) and New Zealand’s Jock Paget (Clifton Lush) occupying fourth and fifth spots with 40.2 and 40.8 penalties respectively.

Course-designer Giuseppe Della Chiesa was pleased with the end-of-day statistics. From 82 cross-country starters there were 62 completions, 52 clear rounds and 13 clear and inside the time.

“I had last year’s conditions in mind when I designed this course and yesterday I was happy that whatever the weather today, I was comfortable with what I had built,” he said.

Tomorrow’s final horse inspection takes place at 8:30 a.m. GMT, the jumping phase for the lower placed competitors will start at 11:30 a.m. and the top 20 will jump at 2:45 p.m. local time.

To view the full results, click here.