The first horse inspection at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials today (30 August) saw one combination held by the ground jury before reinspection.
Roo Fox and Fleet Street, who jumped clear across country at Burghley in 2014, were held after their first trot in front of the ground jury of Martin Plewa, Harry Payne and Katarzyna Konarska. But when the combination presented for a second time after being in the holding box, they were accepted.
There were no other holds and every combination that presented made it through the first horse inspection. The only combination not to present was Lissa Green and Malin Head Clover, who withdrew before the trot up.
Other notable withdrawals within the past couple of days include Mark Todd’s second ride, NZB Campino and Vittoria Panizzon’s Borough Pennyz.
There were a few excited and fresh horses at the first inspection, including Zara Tindall’s ride, High Kingdom. The 16-year-old, owned by Gleadhill House Stud Ltd, looked like he was enjoying the big occasion after his last major appearance where he was third at Kentucky this spring.
Louisa Milne Home’s large grey, King Eider, also took some persuading to behave while trotting up. It took Louisa a couple of attempts to get her 17-year-old four-star campaigner to stay on the trot-up trip itself.
Lynn Symansky from the USA also had a job to handle Donner, a horse that has taken her to countless four-stars and the World Equestrian Games.
Continued below…
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Dressage action kicks off at 10am tomorrow, when the first of 61 starters, Tina Cook and Star Witness get things underway.