David Doel achieved the biggest accolade of his career so far as he finished narrowly in second place with Gillian Jonas’ Galileo Nieuwmoed at the 2023 Defender Burghley Horse Trials.
David Doel was in third place heading into the final phase after jumping one of only two cross-country rounds inside the time on Saturday. A clear showjumping round put pressure on the two riders above him, who each had a fence in hand, and the combination finished on 33.7, just 0.7 behind eventual winners, Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class.
When David cantered into the arena to jump, the crowd fell “eerily quiet”, waiting to see if the partnership could produce one of the few clears on the final day.
David said: “As I rode up to the first fence the crowd went silent. Galileo tapped a couple of poles early on and I was really lucky up to about the third fence, when I had to have a little chat with him. The rest of the way he jumped super for me. He’s a magic horse and he really deserved this.”
As one of the earliest riders out on the cross-country phase, David and Galileo made light work of Derek Di Grazia’s track to come home clear with nine seconds to spare. David was the only rider to finish on his dressage score.
This result was redemption for David, for whom this was a first five-star podium finish, and Dutch-bred 12-year-old Galileo, who lost their lead at Pau five-star last year when rolling the final fence of the showjumping to finish fourth. The duo’s five-star CV also includes a sixth at Badminton in 2022.
“Our luck was here this week, unlike at Pau last year,” David said. “Hopefully I’ll be able to pay for a holiday this year now,” he added, taking home the £60,000 prize pot for second place.
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