World champions Yasmin Ingham and Banzai Du Loir were at their sparkling best to solidify their position at the top of the Blenheim Horse Trials cross-country results with a clear round finishing bang on the optimum time.
Yasmin, 26, came here with the aim of finishing the season on a positive note. It’s exactly a year since this pair were crowned world champions in Pratoni following a meteoric rise, which involved winning this class in 2021.
As much as the world champion crown is a privilege for any sportsperson to wear, the weight of it can be measured in pressure and expectation. Their 2023 season has been a mix of record-setting highs and uncharacteristic blips. And although there is still the showjumping to go tomorrow, the gremlins of their 20-penalty hiccups at Kentucky CCI5* and the Europeans were put firmly to bed with a class cross-country performance.
“He picked everything up super easily and was right on his lines,” said Yasmin, who rides the 12-year-old gelding for Janette Chinn and The Sue Davies Fund. “He responded when I said go, and steadied when I said ‘whoa’.
“It’s a beautiful place to be able to compete. The owners absolutely love it and my family has come to watch. We’re having a really nice time and enjoying the horse because he’s so special.
“He’s an absolute pleasure and a joy to have. So for us to just actually enjoy him and have nothing else to think about is really nice.”
Asked whether she felt pressure today, she said: “For sure. I think more on myself, as I always just want to do my best and not let anybody down.
“So many people put so much work into this – my team at home, the team that come here and everyone behind the scenes, it’s a massive group effort and when we have a good day, it’s everybody’s good day.”
Ros Canter and Izilot DHI, who she owns with Alex Moody, have held their provisional runner-up spot. The pair finished one second over the optimum time of 10 minutes 20 seconds to add 0.4 of a cross-country time-penalty to their dressage score of 21.6. This means they head into the showjumping 1.5 penalties shy of Yasmin and Banzai’s leading score of 20.5.
“He felt really grown up out there and really honest,” said Ros. “It’s probably the first time I’ve pushed him for the time around a long-format course like this.
“He felt a little bit weary two thirds of the way around. It’s the first time he’s had to dig that deep, but he was so focused with the crowds and all the things we previously had problems with. He was fantastic.”
She added that cross-country course designer David Evans “definitely created a thinking course”.
“I think some of the distances we all thought were a bit different to what maybe we would have picked,” said Ros. “But I think that really makes it a case where you had to make a plan for your own horse, decide what canter you wanted before the fence, and commit to that.
“Some you could choose to roll on at, others, you had to really make a difference to the canter and that was the challenge of it. I think it was all about walking your lines multiple times, knowing what canter you wanted to get to, and knowing the horse you were on.”
Beyond Yasmin and Ros, the rest of the top 10 has had a complete reshuffle.
Piggy March and the delightful little stallion Halo, winners of the eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S class here in 2022, were both beaming after a cracking cross-country performance.
Piggy was deflated after their dressage test yesterday – although it was a good score of 28.7, she knows what Halo is capable of. But that memory and the agonisingly long wait before their 4.30pm cross-country time was more than made up for by their blistering round.
“I am absolutely over the moon – he was fabulous!” said Piggy, who picked up 0.8 of a cross-country time-penalty and has climbed to provisional third in the Blenheim Horse Trials results with Jayne McGivern’s 10-year-old.
“To be honest, I’ve hated today, being drawn so late. I showjumped my first horse at 8.05am and then waited all day to see all sorts going on.
“I’ve never been so late at a three-day and I was worried about him; he’s just not got much mileage and good horses were having problems. But he felt fab in the warm-up and once I got out there, I was having a whale of a time. He was a little Pegasus, a little unicorn today.”
China’s Alex Hua Tian rose from 11th overnight to provisional fourth in the Blenheim Horse Trials results with relatively new ride Chicko, owned by Kate Willis.
“I was very quietly confident coming here,” said Alex, who picked up just 0.4 of a time-penalty, which he reflected was probably because he took a check to the last.
“I’ve had such an awesome year with him across country. As a partnership, I feel like we clicked straight away. He wouldn’t have the range in his gallop that some other horses out there do, but he has tremendous amounts of heart and I trust him so much.”
Tom Rowland has rocketed 23 places up the leaderboard thanks to his clear round inside the time with new ride Dreamliner.
“I absolutely love him,” said Tom, for whom this was just his fifth event with the Chamberlaynes’ Jumbo gelding. “I feel like I’ve learned a little bit from him from each round. He took me by surprise a bit at Burgham, where he was very strong. But I felt that today was the best balance he has galloped in. He’s so reliable and straight. I’ve been trying to work a bit on my steering, as he’s a big horse and I was really pleased as to how adjustable he was.”
Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality picked up a smattering of time-faults to sit provisional seventh after cross-country on a two-phase score of 32.2. Sarah Bullimore (Irish Trump), Will Rawlin (Ballycoog Breaker Boy) and Felicity Collins (RSH Contend Or) have climbed into the top 10 to hold eighth to 10th places respectively.
Blenheim Horse Trials cross-country results: an influential track
It was certainly an influential course, with distances in some combinations proving a talking point. Second out of the start box Harry Meade and Et Hop Du Matz produced the first clear round inside the time, lulling viewers into a sense that perhaps this would be an uneventful day. Harry also delivered another clear round inside the time with his second ride, Annaghmore Valnoner, with whom he is in provisional fifth.
The second water at fence 15 – a big hanging log in, followed by a right-handed turn to a brush and ending with an arrowhead on dry land – was particularly influential. The Noonans Treasure Chest Combination (fences 8 & 9ab) caught out several, as did the multi-part question at the furthest part of the course at fence 17, plus the combination heading into the woods at fence 19.
Gemma Stevens, who was in third overnight, took a tumble from Jalapeno at the penultimate fence – a table with a right-handed turn to a chest fence. Laura Collett parted company from Calahari, with whom she was fourth after dressage, at the Sporting Saint flyer at fence five.
Pippa Funnell walked home with Billy Walk On, sixth after the first phase. Kirsty Chabert and Opposition Loire enjoyed a steady clear, with 18 cross-country time-penalties dropping them from provisional seventh to 35th.
New Zealand’s Samantha Lissington and Lord Seekonig, who were in provisional eighth in the Blenheim Horse Trials results ahead of cross-country, incurred 15 penalties at the final element of the rail, ditch, arrowhead combination at fence 19.
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