Main image: Sophia Hill and Humble Glory in the dressage at Burghley Horse Trials. Image by Hannah Cole Photography.
The second day of dressage wrapped up at Burghley Horse Trials on Friday, with Australian Sophia Hill and Humble Glory posting a score of 36.9 to give them a solid start in their second ever CCI5* event.
“I am thrilled with Hughie, who kept it all together for a PB at five-star level and our best test yet,” said Sophia.
The pair are 50th from 66 combinations and within touch score-wise with the top end of the leaderboard, especially given their track record in the jumping phases. Sophia and ‘Hughie’ have long been strong in the cross country phase, and since arriving in the UK have gone clear at all three CCI4*S starts.
The cross country takes place Saturday and begins from 11am BST/8pm AEST. Sophia and Hughie are 43rd in the running order.
“We are scheduled to go cross country at 2.06pm BST Saturday (11.06pm AEST). The course looks amazing and tough – it will definitely be our biggest challenge yet!” said Sophia.
Hughie, an Australian off the track Thoroughbred by Bernardini out of Sharpen (Shovhog), is one of three Thoroughbreds in the field this year at Burghley – the other two being Monica Spencer’s Artist (NZ) and Mia Farley’s Phelps (USA).
Monica and Artist in particular have posted a very impressive dressage score, with their result of 24.4 placing them fifth.
Ros Canter and Izilot DHI lead Burghley Horse Trials following the dressage phase. Image by DBHT – Peter Nixon.
Ros Canter holds the top two places
British Olympic gold medallist Ros Canter leads the field following the dressage phase. The world number two scored an outstanding mark of 19.9, which represents her best score at CCI5* level, on Alex Moody’s 11-year-old Izilot DHI.
“I’m over the moon,” said Ros of her 2023 Blenheim and Pau winner. “Since Luhmühlen (in June) I’ve been practising having Izilot in self-carriage. I’ve tended to play safe with him in the past because he can be sharp and spooky, and now I want to show off his ability and movement and let him dance.”
Ros remarkably also holds second place with Lordships Graffalo, her Paris ride and 2023 Badminton and European champion, with a score of 22. In third is New Zealander Tim Price and Vitali on 22.3.
