Hazel Shannon and Willingapark Clifford during the dressage phase at Badminton 2022. © Elli Birch_BootsandHooves
Hazel Shannon and Willingapark Clifford made their debut overnight at Badminton Horse Trials, and what a debut it was!
The pair scored 29.9 in the dressage phase, a personal best at CCI5*-L level, which currently has them sitting in 13th place at the completion of day one.
Speaking to Equestrian Australia, Hazel said, “It is always my goal to be under 30, the extra atmosphere of a place like this is a battle. It is the first time I have scored under 30 at a five star and I am stoked! He felt good, he felt like he wanted to go cross country but he held it together for the dressage.”
When asked her thoughts on riding at the world-famous horse trials for the very first time in her career Hazel said the experience was surreal.
“It is unbelievable, it really is something you have to see for yourself to understand the enormity of it.”
Hazel also extended a thank you to the owners of Willingapark Clifford, who have enabled the pair to make the journey to the UK.
“I would like to thank Terry and Ginette Snow from Willngapark. They are the reason I still have the ride on Clifford. They have been so generous to support me in coming to Badminton and I couldn’t have done this without them. “
Felllow Aussie, Bill Levett, also completed his first dressage test on board Lassban Diamond Lift, owned by Elisabeth Murdoch and Bill. He will do his second ride on Day 2 with Lates Quin.
Bill and ‘Sparkles’ , as he is known at home, posted a score of 33.5.
“He was good in a lot of the test, a little frustrating I had a couple of mistakes but we just have to look ahead,” said Bill to EA.
When asked about the cross country test on Saturday, Bill said he is confident he and ’Sparkles’ are up for the challenge.
“He is the ideal horse for it out there, my goal is to get the time. He has plenty of gears to get the time and I think it is going to be a nice track so I am looking forward to it.”
Tonight the rest of the Australian contingent, Dom Schramm riding Bolytair B, Sammi Birch riding Finduss PFB, and Bill riding Lates Quin, will get their crack in the dressage arena.
Friday dressage:
09:38 BST (18:38 AEST) Dom Schramm Equestrian & Bolytair B, groom Emily Lehman
14:32 BST (11:32 AEST) Sammi Birch Equestrian & Findus PFB, groom Helen Tagg
17:00 BST (02:00 AEST) Bill Levett & Lates Quin, groom Debbie Carpenter
Tom McEwen lead Badminton field
Olympic gold medallists Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser, took an early lead at the beginning of last night’s dressage phase at Badminton Horse Trials, presented by Mars Equestrian, and remained unchallenged at the end of the day on the excellent score of 23.4.
‘It’s a shame he didn’t do that test in Tokyo,’ quipped Tom, who also won the Olympic individual silver medal. He was phenomenal, the half passes were lovely, he was smooth in his body and kept up a great rhythm, and it was pretty well mistake-free. It’s lovely to be back here at Badminton,’ he added.
Tom holds a 1.4-penalty lead over Kitty King and Vendredi Biats, who scored 24.8. Kitty was visibly emotional about the performance of her 2021 European team gold medallist: ‘He was tricky yesterday, breaking in all his medium trots, which made me a bit stressed,’ she admitted. ‘He was much more “with” me when I rode him this morning – I did a lot of walking and practised my halts.’
Practice had obviously paid off, with Kitty earning a 10 for a halt: ‘I didn’t know about the 10, so when there was a gasp from the crowd as I went in to medium canter I thought “yikes, where am I going?”. I’m not used to getting 10s!’
Just 0.1 of a penalty behind Kitty, and completing a British one-two-three, are 2021 Luhmuhlen five-star winners Mollie Summerland and Charly Van Ter Heiden, who unfortunately picked up an injury after his big win. ‘He means the world to me and just to be here with him – to ride in that arena with him was a privilege,’ said Mollie.
‘I’ve found it tough since Luhmuhlen, putting pressure on myself with altered expectations. To be honest I feel a little bit shell-shocked. I’ve never ridden in front of crowds like that and I’m so proud of him. He deserves that score.’
American first-timer Tamra Smith riding Mai Baum are fourth on 25.3, ahead of defending champions Piggy March and Vanir Kamira, and 2009 winner Oliver Townend with new ride Swallow Springs.
‘That test felt OK, I’ll definitely take it – I don’t want to go back in there and do it again!’ laughed Piggy. ”’Tilly” has been pretty lively since she’s been here, I’ve been slightly panicking that she remembers 2019 too well… the last time we rode in the main arena here I milked it for all I could, doing a lap of honour 20 million times yelling like a crazy thing, but she’s pretty professional. There were definitely a couple of wobbles but the flying changes were all good.’
Oliver is on the same score as Piggy, 25.7: ‘We’re still getting to know each other but he went in and did his best,’ Oliver said of his new ride, previously competed by Andrew Nicholson. ‘He’s practically pure thoroughbred and not built for dressage but he’s getting better and better. Andrew said he couldn’t have done better himself so I’ll take that.’
Forty-two combinations are yet to perform their dressage tests. Austria’s Katrin Khoddam-Hazrati riding DSP Cosma will be first into the arena tomorrow at 9.30am, with the final competitor, Kyle Roddie on SRS Kan Do, trotting up the centre line at 5.08pm.
You can tune in to the event via Badminton TV.
View the full dressage start list here.
Sources: Badminton Horse Trials media release
Australian Equestrian Team Facebook
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