Chris Burton and Clever Louis on cross country.

© Adam Fanthorpe

By Equestrian Life

CCI4*S 8/9yo horses

The brilliant Australian horseman Christopher Burton joined an elite group of riders to have twice won the prestigious SsangYong Blenheim Palace Horse Trials CCI4*-S class for eight- and nine-year-old horses.
 
On the last occasion, in 2017 on Cooley Lands, he won by a 10th of a second; this time Christopher was untouchable by a nearly seven-penalty margin (29.7 penalties was their total), finishing exactly on the optimum cross-country time on a horse he was competing for the very first time.
 

Chris Burton and Clever Louis.

© Adam Fanthorpe

He was quick to thank Dr and Mrs Geoffrey Guy who just a month ago purchased the nine-year-old Clever Louis by Cyrkon from Germany, where he had been produced by young rider Ben Leuwer in Dirk Schrade’s yard.
 
“I’m absolutely delighted to have the horse,” said Christopher, who is aiming to secure an Olympic qualification at Boekelo next month. “He’s got a lot of thoroughbred blood, which is why I wanted him, and he’s very honest across country.
 
“My good friend [New Zealand rider] Tim Price told me that, with the rain, I would need to add a few strides at some fences and that proved really useful advice.”
 
Gemma Tattersall, 23rd after the first two phases on Chilli Knight, was the only other rider to achieve the optimum time and headed the leaderboard for a long time before being eventually pushed into third place by Christopher and the runner-up, Tom McEwen on Dreamaway ll.
 
Andrew How and Bloom Des Hauts Crets were then next best placed Aussies in 11th on 43.2; the pair jumped clear and added just 6 cross country time penalties to their dressage score.

CCI4*-L

The CCI4*-L class also saw some great performances from Aussie combinations.

Sammi Birch and Direct Tullyoran Cruise were the highest placed in fourth; the pair’s clear showjumping round elevated them five places to ninth. They finished on 30.4, adding just 2.8 cross country time penalties to their dressage score. Could Sammi have an Olympic possibility on her hands here?

Sammi Birch and Direct Tullyoran Cruise.

© William Carey

 
“I’ve only had the mare for six months and she’s a funny little thing – she can be really feisty, but she is a proper competition horse,” said Sammi. “I came here thinking a top-10 finish might be possible, so to be fourth is fantastic.”

Kevin McNab and Scuderia 1918 A Best Friend finished 12th. The pair were third after a brilliant dressage test and cross country round, however two rails in the showjumping saw them drop down the list with 35.3 total penalties.

Kevin McNab and Scuderia 1918 A Best Friend.

© William Carey

The class was won by Piggy French and Brookfield Inocent on 25.4, with Japan’s Kazuma Tomato second on Brookpark Vikenti with 25.6. Piggy was also third on Castletown Clower with 28.6. The top three all finished on their dressage scores.

FULL RESULTS

Source: Quotes courtest of event PR

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