Tim Price had been touted as a likely leader on Vitali after the Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage phase, but a mark of 27.7 puts them third at lunchtime on Friday.
For most of the test the pair looked confident to top the leaderboard, as they kicked off with a nine for the first medium trot, and the horse’s stunning movement, cadence and lightness earned them a spate of eights and 8.5s. His extended trot was superb, Vitali was soft yet forward, smartly flicking his toes while in a good outline. The first three flying changes, the bête noir of so many event horses, were also secure and expressive, scoring eights.
But the impressive performance just started to unravel slightly at the final flying change, where the marks plummeted to fours, which was such an expensive mistake in a lovely test, rounded off with fidgety final halt.
“We all know how capable he is, so on the one hand you can be a bit disappointed but it’s always a bit unknown when you take a horse into an arena like that,” said Tim. “He’s been getting better and better every ride, but it’s so different here to Burghley – it was madness there, whereas here he’s been relaxed and then he got a little bit on edge and it took away his focus. He misses a change one in a 100 and I missed one and a half in there today.”
Tim scored 18.7 to lead the dressage at Burghley last year, and has joked that he’d need to score a 12 on this horse to give him a significant showjumping advantage. But he had a positive attitude about today’s result.
“He just wants to go, he’s feeling very well,” he said. “Maybe I’ll do a conventional result here, starting near the top and he’ll get better and getter through the phases. I’ll take that – I’m happy enough.”
At lunchtime on the second day, Ros Canter leads on Izilot DHI, on 25.3, with Bubby Upton second on Cola (27.3).
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