Festival of British Eventing 2011

Chris had a good Gatcombe. In the British Open class, Chris (on Newsprint) was equal with Mark Todd for 4th - the result went back to the closest to optimum time. Chris was so fast on cross-country that Mark was closer to the optimum time and was awarded 4th and Chris was relegated to 5th. His very fast cross-country riding had more pleasing results in the Advanced class (Section 1) on Jaybee Claypso.  A good Dressage test was followed by three rails in the show jumping - so it seemed as if they were out of contention with cross-country yet to go.  Yet, after a blistering round, the only combination to make time they finished 2nd overall. Chris now heads to Haras du Pin in France with his team of horses, including Kinnordy Rivaldo

Chris is staying with fellow countryman Sam Griffiths whilst he is in the UK. Sam took home £3,000 in prize money after his Express Eventing debut as well as qualifying for the Express Eventing Final at the Horse of the Year Show at Birmingham’s LG Arena on 4th October 2011. Oliver Townend came a close second to Griffiths with just 0.8 penalty points separating the two. Townend had an incredibly busy weekend at The Festival of British Eventing running nine horses in total and Sam ran three.Sam rode a breathtaking freestyle dressage to music test on Saturday evening which left the huge crowd of spectators stunned and artistic Judge, Amanda Birch of Amanda Birch Dressage Writing commented “Spectators here have truly witnessed something very special’. He produced the lowest dressage score of the entire Express Eventing Series 2011 qualifiers, being awarded a 7.9. He then jumped clear in his Cross Country phase seeing him leading into the final show jumping phase. The show jumping proved tricky for some with only two clear rounds, and Sam had two poles down meaning that he had to jump and clear the eraser fence (which is optional but if cleared knocks 4 points of the total score) which he did with ease, clinching him the top spot.A delighted Sam said of the event: "I have loved every minute of this competition, it’s been very exciting and winning has topped it off. I think it’s a great concept and one that really suited my horse, it has been my first time competing today and I wish I’d done the others [previous 3 qualifiers]”