Cameras all set at Aston-Le-Walls but sadly no riders!
Well as Bella Webber aptly put it on Twitter “Classic 1st event of season when you think you're going to smash it/win, when in reality everything possible goes tits up #gottalaugh”
The British Eventing 2017 season started last weekend and, while we were hot to trot with tripods set up, cameras waiting to whirr (well, maybe not whirr exactly as they are digital little beasts after all) and crew all set in wet weather gear, our trip to Aston-Le-Walls was sadly just a weekend away
Whilst Aston-Le-Walls was cancelled on both days, Moreton in Dorset managed to run on Saturday but also had to cancel due to wet weather on Sunday. However, at least a few of the big names managed to get a run in for their babies with Mary King being one of the winners on one of the best bred horses around, Kings Ginger. The seven year old is by the Badminton winning stallion Chilli Morning out of Mary’s Rolex Kentucky winner Kings Temptress – you don’t get any better than that on paper and the young gelding certainly put the right foot forward this week with a dressage score of 22.5 and just 0.8 time penalties to win the BE100 Open
The soon to be married David Doel had a busy day with a few rides and a win in the Novice Section E on the seven year old bay mare Ferro Point, Andrew Nicholson had five on board with Berganza being his best of the day with a second in the BE100B. William Fox-Pitt also took five young horses for a canter around with three having their first start with him
Further north in Cambridgeshire at Isleham, Oliver Townend and Lanfranco won the Open Intermediate on dressage score of their 27.10 (surprise, surprise, the only one to be under time). Piggy French was also back in the saddle riding four horses including Quarrycrest Echo (8th in the Open Intermediate) who had been ridden by Tina Cook while Piggy had her baby and became a superstar interviewer in 2016
Izzy Taylor had several horses out including Direct Cassino, the winner of the Intermediate and Simon Grieve had an excellent weekend with three wins (BE90 Open, BE100 Open and Novice) and a second place out of six rides
The Open Novice was also won by Oliver (again, the only one to make time) on his 2012 Ballindenisk 3* winner Arctic Mouse who seems to be back in Oliver’s stable
Even further north, the new event at Epworth in South Yorkshire also went ahead on both days with the free draining sandy soil obviously proving a bonus. Nicola Wilson was the local star attraction with JL Dublin winning the BE100 Open A, the six year old All We Need following up his second place at Allerton Park late last season with a third place in the BE100C and Shannonview Glory, the winner at Allerton Park, finishing sixth in the BE100D
The BE100C was won by Sara Bowe on Kingsley Park Panther just ahead of Heidi Woodhead on Grandeur DHI while the BE100D was taken by our cover girl, Samantha Hobbs riding Lime Rickey. Heidi and Sara also came up trumps in this class with second and third places on Galant DHI and Quinara
We now head to Oasby Horse Trials in Lincolnshire where we will be filming all competitors on cross country from Thursday 9th – Sunday 12th. Fingers crossed for some good weather so that we can bring you some great footage from the four days!
Find out more about our cross country videos at Oasby 1 here
