Saturday round up from FEI Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International

Posted on April 7, 2021 by admin Categories: Blogs

Izzy Taylor remains at the top of both leaderboards tonight, the four star long and short formats. Could Oliver Townend’s domination of the 4* short format at Burnham Market be about to end?

CCI4* long format

Izzy and Monkeying Around flew round the cross country course today to remain on their 23.2 dressage score. “He was totally on it and felt very good and confident,” she said after her round. “He’s very light on his feet and the ground felt good – he’s also a good showjumper, usually!”

Nicola Wilson has moved from fourth to the runner up spot riding JL Dublin, less that a showjump down behind Izzy. She also lies in fifth place on Bulana. “I’ve enjoyed the last few days enormously. I was injured last year and it so good to be able to ride around a long format course like this.

“Bulana made a couple of expensive mistakes in the dressage, but gave me a lovely ride today.”

This was JL Dublin’s first long format four-star, and Nicola said: “He’s quite a dude. He has so much power and is lovely to ride. I look forward to his future.”

Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon is the only foreign rider in the top 10 – she holds third with Chequers Play The Game going into tomorrow’s decisive showjumping phase.

46% of the cross country starters made the time today. That is by far the highest cross country time clear rate of all 4*L courses on British soil since 2010. The second highest cross country time clear rate was at Bramham in 2011, which had a 26% clear rate.

CCI4* short format

Having showjumped clear yesterday, Izzy Taylor’s ride Hartacker currently looks set to win both the Fairfax Saddles 8/9 year-old-championships and the class as a whole. The pair are poised to deliver the all-time lowest finishing score at Burnham Market 4*S. On their overnight score of 20.3, they have a point on the current record of 21.3 held by Oliver Townend & Cillnabradden Evo, posted in 2019.

Two points behind sits Yasmin Ingham riding Banzai Du Loir, followed by Oliver on Cillnabradden Evo, while hard on his heels is China’s Alex Hua Tian with the hugely popular Don Geniro.

“I thought it was a tough showjumping course for an eight-year-old horse – Hartacker only started competing last year,” said Izzy. “He tries so hard, but could be a bit ‘green’ [inexperienced] tomorrow.”

Cross country starts tomorrow at 10am.