The young Brit works his way to the top of the CCI****.

Oliver Townend, 26, has never been slow to remind people that he is the new generation of British riders—a sentiment that hasn’t always been overly popular with his peers.

But Townend’s mature performance throughout the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials in Gloucestershire, England, on May 7-10 had “winner” stamped all over it, and his joyous lap of honor on Edward Nicholson’s homebred gray Flint Curtis was uplifting.

Townend is already one of the sport’s characters, handsome and witty—when asked what sort of horse he thought would be suited by the cross-country, he replied “Hopefully, only Flint Curtis!”—and candid (how to pay off the mortgage is never far from the conversation), but his evident and genuine thrill at lifting this coveted prize was touching.

“It’s been a dream since I was 8,” he admitted.  “When Flint Curtis first came to Badminton [he was third in 2006], he was only 10 and it blew his brains. Now he’s 13 and has been to all sorts of competitions, and we’ve grown up together. I’ve found different ways of keeping him calm and myself focused. I came here just hoping to get the best out of the horse, and that attitude has achieved a much better result.”

William Fox-Pitt was again the supreme horseman, in second and fifth places on Idalgo and Macchiato. Cross-country time penalties cost him victory, but these were horses that were unknown quantities as far as Badminton was concerned.

“I’ve always believed in Idalgo from the moment I first got him seven years ago, but things haven’t always gone his way,” said Fox-Pitt, referring to the 13-year-old French-bred chestnut’s accident-prone career.

“It’s taken a while to get him to Badminton and pull it off. Some horses aren’t lucky, and he’s been one of them. But this has renewed people’s faith in him. He’s very talented and fantastic to ride.”

Mixed Reviews For New Test

While this may not have been a vintage Badminton field in terms of international talent, the top 10 were plenty cosmopolitan enough. Australian Sam Griffiths, enjoying his best four-star result in third, produced the sort of performance on the 10-year-old Happy Times that should make him hard for the Australian selectors to overlook for the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The dressage phase proved hard work, with blustery conditions and a new fast-paced dressage test, written by Chris Bartle, taxing all but the most composed riders and horses. The general opinion was that the final serpentine carried too many marks but that the canter work was enjoyable to ride, as it demanded plenty of expression.

Eric Smiley, judging along with Britain’s Angela Tucker and France’s Michel Assuray, commented, “It requires a true sense of ringcraft. When riders get used to it, they will grow to like it, but there’s no getting away from the basic skill of having the horse attentive to the aids.”

Karin Donckers of Belgium, who was classy and mistake-free, and British rider Lucy Wiegersma scored the only sub-40 marks to lie first and second after dressage. The latter said she was on “damage limitation—I’ve never known Shaabrak so tense.” 

Townend put himself into contention with a third-placed dressage performance, behind Donckers and Wiegersma with 40.5.

Several horses whipped around in the rein-back, and riders of the caliber of Andrew Nicholson, Mary King and Clayton Fredericks were anchored well out of sight by ordinary marks.

World Champion Zara Phillips was deflated by a tension-filled test on Toytown, who was clearly lit up by his first international appearance for 18 months, and their score put them into ninth place.

Not As Easy As It Looked

Some riders were privately of the view that the apparently straightforward nature of the cross-country and the perfect, fast going would make any headway on the leaderboard an uphill struggle. And at first the plethora of clear rounds, many within the optimum time of 11:34, seemed to justify initial opinion. Ultimately there were an astonishing 54 clears from the 80 starters, 16 of them inside time, but it was a pleasure to see so many horses going well.

Fox-Pitt was the perfect trailblazer on the Argentine Thoroughbred Macchiato, a winner at three- and four-star level but still relatively green, and he made it look easy.

Others followed, such as young Georgie Spence, 20, the only rider to get two horses around inside the time, Caroline Powell on Lenamore, Australian Paul Tapner on Kilfinnie, and Harry Meade on the 19-year-old Midnight Dazzler, one of only four horses to finish on his dressage score.

Just when things seemed a little too smooth, Emily Baldwin, fourth after dressage, became the first casualty. Badminton’s crowd-lined Lake has been a bogey for her twice before, and this time she got Drivetime too close to the obstacle in the water and he refused.

Jo May, 10th after dressage on Faere Vision, never appeared to be going and retired after the horse made a half-hearted attempt to jump the log on top of the Outlander Bank at fence 10.

Rodney Powell, 11th after dressage on Zin Zan ll, allowed himself to be distracted by the moving camera before the exacting pair of HSBC Hexagon Hedges over the Vicarage Ditch, where Zin Zan promptly stopped at the narrow brush.

There were three horse falls and three rider falls. Penny Lawn flew through the air at fence 6, the new Alterian Hillside, a rolltop, drop and narrow brush, and was airlifted to the hospital suffering from concussion.

Sharon Hunt and Tankers Town, members of last year’s British Olympic bronze-medal team, never even got to the start. Tankers Town planted himself and refused point blank to go into the start box. British team officials tried to shoo him in, with the ignominous result that Hunt was eliminated for outside assistance.

Badminton had a record 24 first-timers, many of whom acquitted themselves admirably, among them Emily Llewellyn, the reigning European Young Rider champion and, at 19, the youngest rider in the field; 47-year-old veterinarian Tony Warr, who kept his head while held on course for fence repair; 20-year-old Aaron Millar, who managed to ignore a whippet yapping around the front legs of his horse Stormstay; Italy’s Roberto Rotatori aboard the Nicolas Touzaint-produced Irham des Viages, and Ireland’s Sam Watson, son of 1978 World Championships (Ky.) silver medalist John, who survived a shaky start.

The sole American, Bonnie Mosser, lay 18th after dressage on the attractive gray Merloch, but she pulled him up after the Hexagon Hedges as he was lame on the near hind. For a minute, it looked serious, but was apparently the result of a trapped nerve.

Phillips also had to pull up for a rather more serious lameness with first ride Ardfield Magic Star, who has given her four clears at the four-star level and was 19th last year. He was jumping superbly but broke down in the Lake area and is likely to be out of work for some time with a tendon injury.

Seconds Become Precious

With the best-placed riders coming thick and fast at the end of the day, the competition suddenly shifted into a different, thrilling gear as they chased each around in sharp combat.

The popular Wiegersma left the door open for Townend by finishing an agonizing 2 seconds outside the optimum time, and Fox-Pitt, fifth after dressage on Idalgo, looked superb but didn’t help his cause with 2.4 time penalties though he did inch a place nearer, in fourth.

Matthew Wright, eighth after dressage, was first to crack, unceremoniously ejected when the French-bred If You Want, who has failed to complete three consecutive four-stars now, stopped sharply at the narrow corner in Huntsman’s Close on the way home.

Phillips fared no better on Toytown, who was withdrawn after dressage in 2007 due to the hard ground. The faithful chestnut looked a little rusty, as well he might, since he hasn’t done a four-star track since winning the individual gold at the 2006 World Equestrian Games (Germany). Badminton’s continual and exacting turning questions began to take their toll.

He pitched steeply on landing over the Hexagon Hedges and then, at the HSBC Sunken Lane (fence 15), a shuffled stride caused the pair to lose their line to the final fourth element. He had no option other than to duck out to the left, after which Phillips decided to retire. Surrounded by the inevitable media, they made a sad sight dejectedly hacking back to the stables.

Donckers was looking good, but she didn’t realize until she passed through the finish flags that she’d clocked 6.4 time penalties, which would drop her from first to fifth, and she burst into tears.

Meanwhile, Townend had grim determination etched on his face. He has had his ups and downs with Flint Curtis, who is not a full Thoroughbred (William Curtis—Zircon). They were placed 11th individually at the 2006 WEG and members of the winning British team at the 2007 European Championships, but the horse was withdrawn from Olympic selection last year and retired on course at the Burghley CCI**** (England) last fall before scoring a convincing win in the controversial Express Eventing in November.

The partnership has been notably focused this spring though, and there was never any suggestion that Townend would make any mistake this time. Indeed, he arrived back at the finish in the main arena with 15 seconds to spare and was able to enjoy the luxury of taking a big turn to the last.

“As I was approaching Huntsman’s Close, I heard over the commentary that Karin had had a few time faults so I knew that I just had to get home. It was one of the most thrilling rides I’ve had on Flint. He galloped better than he ever has before, and that was a fantastic feeling because sometimes I have to work hard on him,” said Townend.

Having earlier opined that the course was “perhaps a bit uninspiring if you were lower down after dressage,” Townend commented that “it did perhaps walk kinder than last year, but Badminton is Badminton and things happen here that wouldn’t happen anywhere else. Galloping between the rows and rows of people, it’s easy to lose concentration. It was plenty tough enough.”

Clears Hard To Come By

Wiegersma’s time penalties had put her on the same score as Townend, but he prevailed owing to being faster cross-country. If that didn’t guarantee a tight finish in itself, neither could afford a jumping rail down because the ecstatic Italian first-timer Roberto Rotatori was breathing down their necks in third, with Fox-Pitt an ominous 5 penalties away in fourth and the indefatigable Ruth Edge in sixth.

A cluster of clear rounds over Jon Doney’s continually turning show jumping course indicated that this phase might not factor too much in the final result, but it is much easier to jump clear when you have less to lose. Pressure soon told on leading contenders; Edge, Donckers and Rotatori had three down apiece and Wiegersma, who confessed that “the wheels had fallen off,” had four.

When Griffiths won the Saumur CCI*** (France) last year on Happy Times, it was despite four fences down. This time, with a new warm-up routine, they went clear and continued their meteoric rise that had begun at 20th after dressage, through eighth after cross-country, to third.

“I’m thrilled,” said Griffiths, whose previous Badminton best was a sixth place on Private Colin in 2004. “I never expected to do as well as this.”

Townend knew that he had a fence in hand over Fox-Pitt, but that was little comfort, for Flint Curtis can get low over his fences and, as Townend explained, “He isn’t always at his best on a left-handed course.”

When the gray hit the planks at fence 7, the shock on Townend’s face was visible, for he still had six fences including a triple combination to go, but with the tenacity of a true champion, he never wavered, and the crowd exploded as he cleared the final jump with just the 4 faults and the win.

“It was nerve-wracking, as I knew that if we didn’t win, it would be down to my riding,” he admitted.

Badminton victory, coupled with eighth place on second string Carousel Quest at the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** two weeks before, has taken Townend to the top of the HSBC FEI Classics standings, a point ahead of last year’s winner Fox-Pitt. Ominously for the rest of the world, he has a horse for the Luhmuhlen CCI**** (Germany) next month.

“It’s made me rethink my season,” he admitted, back on the subject of finance. “I’m only 26 and I’ve bought a very expensive farm, so money’s obviously important. But, even though none of this has really sunk in yet, I do know that winning Badminton means way more to me than just money.”