September 10, 2010

by Lulu Kyriacou

British team member Piggy French leads the CCI three-star class with the lightly campaigned Chase the Moon, and Mark Todd leads the CIC with his WEG ride NZB Land Vision after the first day of dressage at the Blenheim International Horse Trials.

Clayton Fredericks and Brookleigh, currently fourth equal in the CCI***. © Lulu Kyriacou

Team New Zealand had a good day in general with Neil Spratt currently second to Piggy and Andrew Nicholson and Lucy Jackson also in the top ten. Australia's Clayton Fredericks is currently fourth in both competitions with Brookleigh and Walterstown Don.

The Blenheim Horse Trials are held in the grounds of Blenheim Palace, the ancestral seat of the Duke of Marlborough in Oxfordshire. With the World Equestrian Games just weeks away, it will be the last international outing for many riders before landing in Kentucky.

For others, the CIC class for 8 and 9 year old horses was part of their long term plan to reach the London Olympics in 2012. The event is truly international this year with riders from 12 nations here to compete.

At time of writing there are 70 horses entered for the CIC*** and over 100 in the CCI***. There is another day of dressage today and on Saturday there will be CCI cross country and CIC show jumping.

Both sections will run their final phases on Sunday and this arrangement means that for the visitor there will be cross-country to watch both days at the weekend.

Course designer Eric Winter has raised the stakes for the CCI competitors by creating a track that has an optimum time of 10 minutes 56 seconds. This is longer than the four-star track at Burghley last week.

"We have had to go a bit wider around the trade stands and the main arena this year as the siting has slightly moved and to be honest I did think it would be about 15 seconds shorter but when we wheeled it, that was what we got," Winter said.

"And to be fair, I think that the tracks should be more towards the optimum end of the spectrum or else the differences between CCI and CIC become a bit muddied, to the point where you wonder what the difference is. That said, I think the questions on the course are evenly spread and I am not expecting any fence in particular to cause problems.

"The CIC course is almost totally different but this section is a different challenge, the class is for younger horses, hopefully the stars of the future and I did not want to be unduly tough on them," Winter said.

Once the CCI dressage has concluded the British team for WEG have a public dressage training session in the main arena. The team will also be doing a show jump practice on Sunday morning.

Blenheim Horse Trials 2010

CCI***
Current Dressage Results (43/85)
Judges: Sandy Phillips GBR (B), Michel Asseray FRA (C) , Jane H.-Roddam GBR (H)
Horse Rider B C H Pen Pl
CHASE THE MOON Piggy French 172 171 176 46.2 1
UPLEADON Neil Spratt 161 176 181 46.4 2
CAYENNE Peter Thomsen 167 182 168 46.6 3
BROOKLEIGH Clayton Fredericks 155 176 170 49.8 =4
STEELING TIME Marie Ryan 163 164 174 49.8 =4
BLUE HORIZON Pippa Funnell 171 161 167 50.2 =6
SHADY GREY Andrew Nicholson 158 163 178 50.2 =6
OSLO William Fox-Pitt 158 174 165 50.6 8
IDEAL SEBASTIAN Jeanette Brakewell 157 162 173 51.6 9
ANIMATOR II Lucy Jackson 165 165 160 52.0 =10
BUNRATTY ROSE Kate Jupp 157 164 169 52.0 =10
FLINTSTAR Jonelle Richards 160 162 154 54.8 16

CIC***
Current Dressage Results 8/9YO (32/63)
Judges: Lindsay Jenkins GBR (C) , Angela Tucker GBR (C) , Alain James FRA (H)
Horse Rider C C H Pen Pl
NZB LAND VISION Mark Todd 176 172 177 45.0 1
ORLANDO Georgie Davies 166 176 173 47.0 2
VALENTINO V Sarah Bullimore 171 171 169 47.8 3
HAPPY GO LUCKY Rodney Powell 166 164 180 48.0 4
WALTERSTOWN DON Clayton Fredericks 163 173 164 50.0 5
AP UPRISING Alexander Peternell 180 161 157 50.4 6
TINKAS TIME Harry Meade 161 163 171 51.0 7
URZAN Catherine Burrell 164 164 164 51.6 8
PENGUIN ICE Nick Gauntlett 162 166 163 51.8 9
POWER OF DREAMS Paul Sims 170 161 157 52.4 10
KILCOLTRIM AMBASSADOR Lucy Jackson 148 153 141 61.6 23