Eventing in numbers: over 300 sections so far this year, a 14.5 dressage score and one incredibly speedy rider

Dates: 30 March-5 April, fifth week of the 2015 season

The basics

Number of British Eventing (BE) fixtures: 4 (Somerley Park, Burnham Market (1), Howick and Eden Valley (1))
Number of fixtures cancelled: 2 (Goring Heath (1) and Llanymynech)
Number of fixtures abandoned on Saturday: 1 (Eden Valley (1))
Number of BE sections run this week: 55
Number of FEI sections run in Britain this week: 3
Event with most sections: Somerley Park — 21 sections
Number of combined BE and FEI sections run so far this year: 313
Number of BE fixtures run so far this year: 19

Best dressage scores

Burnham Market (1): 19.5, for BE100 section D runners-up Izzy Taylor on Constance O Cool
Howick: 15.5, for Gortlas Earl Gray ridden by Becky Woolven, winners of BE100 section A
Eden Valley: 14.5, for Emma Penny and Westenwind III in BE80(T) section J — but they retired across country after 24 showjumping faults
Best FEI dressage score in Britain so far this season: 33.3, for Piggy French and OBOS Cooley, who finished third in the CIC2* at Burnham Market (1)

Speedy gonzales

0: number of pairs who beat the 5min 55sec optimum time in the CIC2* at Somerley Park — the fastest pair were third-placed Andrew Nicholson and Cillnabradden Evo, who had 3.6 time-faults
1: number of pairs who beat the 5min 36sec optimum time over Somerley Park’s intermediate course. They were: Ibby Macpherson Ballingowan Echo, winners of open intermediate section C
2: number of pairs inside the CIC2* optimum time of 6min 14sec at Burnham Market — the winner Cooley SRS and runner-up Colonel Joe, both ridden by Oliver Townend
0: number of horses inside the Burnham Market CIC3* optimum time of 6min — the fastest was Armada, 2sec over, again ridden by Oliver Townend
1: number of horses inside the 6min 14sec optimum time over the intermediate course at Burnham Market — Silken Scully, fourth in section I. No prizes for guessing who was riding him…

And also…

1: number of combinations who finished on a clean sheet in the BE100 Pony Club section at Howick — winners Tatiana Brent and Rosemamber Lancuest
2: number of four-star horses in the open novice under-18 at Burnham Market. Roma ML — who completed Badminton and Pau with Fiona Hobby — took second under Annie Keir, while Sugar Brown Babe (pictured above), who finished at Badminton 2013 and went to the Malmö Europeans under Ireland’s Sarah Ennis, was 10th with Coco Taylor
5: number of pairs in the CIC3* who failed to reach a dressage qualifying score — 75, or 50%
4: number of riders in the CIC2* at Somerley Park who made an error of course in the dressage

14: number of horses competed by Oliver Townend at Burnham Market. Nine of them (63%) finished in the top four
4: number of riders in the top 25 of the giant CIC3* section at Burnham Market who have not ridden at a senior championship. The riders punching above their weight were Tom Jackson (third on Waltham Fiddlers Find), Nicky Roncoroni (fourth on Stonedge), Jodie Amos (eighth on Wise Crack) and Holly Woodhead (14th on DHI Lupison)
89: percentage of pairs in BE80(T) section H at Eden Valley who showjumped clear
3: the top three placed riders in every section at Burnham Market received mini eggs as well as their rosette and cheque (pictured below)

Further afield

3: pairs accepted into Badminton from the waiting list so far
18: number of times Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda, who won the CIC3* at The Fork, USA, last weekend, have finished in the top 10 at FEI events, including seven wins

Full reports from Burnham Market (1) and Somerley Park in H&H this week, out 9 April 2015

Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.