The action has been paused on the second day of the Badminton Horse Trials dressage, at the event presented by Mars Equestrian, as attention turns to The King’s coronation.
At the break, Britain’s Kitty King remains in the lead with Vendredi Biats, just 0.9pen ahead of Oliver Townend and Swallow Springs. Gemma Stevens lies third with Jalapeno, followed by Tom McEwen and Toledo De Kerser in fourth and William Fox-Pitt moving into fifth aboard Grafennacht.
Amanda Gould’s 11-year-old mare Grafennacht is here with William competing at her first five-star, and William said he was “dead chuffed” with her performance here.
“She is quite good on the flat, and she has always had it in her to be good, but she’s inexperienced and she had last year pretty much off so she’s been a bit raw this year. To go in there and behave like that – good girl!”
Indeed “Lillie” appeared remarkably relaxed in the arena, moving softly and fluently through the test with her ears pricked, looking as though she was thoroughly enjoying herself. While not the most powerful, this sweet mare showed a really good lengthening of not just the stride but the whole frame in her medium and extended trots, and offered one of the better long-rein circles of the morning. She and William received 25.8 from the judges.
Selena Milnes put another sub-30 mark on the board with 29.7 on the Aquilino x Donnerschlag 14-year-old Iron, who is owned by Angela and William Rucker.
“I was really pleased with him as he was so much more rideable – he’s been really quite hot all week,” said Selena. “Now I know that I can have him like that in the arena, next time I can go for more.”
Like many riders, Selena praised the way in which the ground in the main arena is holding up, despite the rain having proved itself to be a permanent fixture of this second day of Badminton Horse Trials dressage.
“I thought it would be really churned up in there, but actually it wasn’t – it was really good,” said Selena.
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