Oliver Townend and Tregilder at Burnham Market
An Eventful Life filmed all competitors on cross country at
Burnham Market International - find out more here
Not the headline you were expecting from the final day at the Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International?
For those wondering if the World Number One Oliver Townend can be beaten, we thought we’d lead with the Sunday evening news that Oliver finished 57th on Tregilder at the Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International (and it happened to be the only photo that Deb got of Oliver during her spectacularly unsuccessful weekend of photography!)
Tregilder aside, who finished 57th in the CCI4*-S, the leading British points winner Oliver Townend, dominated yet again at Burnham Market. Due to huge entries from many of the top horse and rider combinations in the world, two sections of Four Star competitors ran today (Sunday), and Oliver showed just how good he is by leading both from pillar to post on two of the horses he has entered for Badminton
The first win in the bag came from his Burghley 2017 winner Ballaghmor Class. The pair started with a dressage score of 21.8 to which they added just 0.4 of a cross country time penalty, giving Oliver a four point advantage over runners up Alexander Bragg and Zagreb.
Next up was Cillnabradden Evo who scored 21.3 for the dressage, finishing the day on that score. Both of Oliver's horses broke the previous Burnham Market record for dressage scores at the level. Laura Collett was runner up riding London 52, five penalties off the pace.
This remarkable performance takes Oliver's tally of Four Star wins at Burnham Market to 12 since 2007 – the class had to be abandoned last year due to inclement weather.
Commenting on his track record here Oliver said: “The event comes at a good time of year, and I invariably set out to have a competitive run ahead of Badminton. I thought the course was fantastic, the going was good, and the horses ran really well.”
Oliver had already taken a win on Saturday riding Arklow Puissance in the Intermediate L while his other two Badminton entries, Ulises finished second on his dressage score in the Advanced class yesterday and Cooley Master Class, starting with a fabulous dressage score of 21.40, had a quiet canter around the Open Intermediate cross country to finish in 18th place
Look out Badminton, here comes the World Number One and you can bet he won’t be finishing 57th …
We’ll be back with interviews, a full run down across the classes at Burnham Market International and photos of winners (from photographers who, thankfully, were on the ball this weekend!)
