Sarah Bullimore and Corouet stole a lead in the CCI4*-L dressage at Blenheim Horse Trials this morning (15 September) with the pint-sized gelding impressing the judges to score 27.8 and head the provisional results at the lunch break on Thursday.
This tiny gelding, who Sarah co-owns with her husband Brett and the Kew Jumping Syndicate, packs huge energy and personality into his diminutive frame. Their test featured Corouet’s trademark powerhouse extended canter and classy extended trot, which were rewarded by the judges – Douglas Hibbert at M, Bobby Stevenson at C and Sue Baxter at E.
While their test was undeniably good, it wasn’t perfect and Corouet can score higher, as shown with his 22.5 test at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials. A break to canter in the trot half-pass was costly, and there were a few moments where the 11-year-old son of Lilly Corinne anticipated Sarah’s half-halt aids a little keenly.
“It wasn’t bad, he had a couple of silly mistakes,” said Sarah. “He was actually a bit too quiet; I think I did five minutes too much outside and he obviously thought there weren’t quite enough people for him to be excited about! He was almost a bit too with me to the point that every time I half-halted, he asked ‘what, here?’ It wasn’t his best, but it still wasn’t a bad test.”
It has been a challenging few weeks for Sarah. The duo led the first day at Burghley and went into the cross-country in third place. But Sarah, who was riding with an injured knee at the Lincolnshire five-star, opted to call it a day following a run out at the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit and reroute her homebred European medal-winner to Blenheim instead.
Reflecting on those last few weeks, she added: “To be fair they have not gone great. It’s been a little bit everything I touch has gone wrong, really. Sometimes that’s the nature of the sport.
“You are not doing anything differently, but sometimes it all turns to gold and you think, ‘actually I rode that really badly, but it still turned out well’. Other times you think, ‘I didn’t actually do anything wrong, but it goes the wrong way’. We’ve just had a couple of weeks like that, but hopefully we are turning that around and going in the right direction again.”
Blenheim Horse Trials and CCI4*-L first-timer Lizzie Baugh piloted her homebred B Exclusive into provisional second at this stage in the dressage with an elegant test, which earned the pair a score of 29.6.
“That’s his personal best at four-star,” said Lizzie, on hearing her score while analysing her test, reflecting that finding the right warm-up and training with Tracey Woodhead has been key to reaching these higher marks.
“He has a tendency to get quite hot and quite excited in the arena – walking down the horse walk he was eyeing up the cross-country fences! That’s what he thinks he has come here to do.”
Lizzie, who remembers the 12-year-old gelding being born, added they joked that he would one day be her Badminton horse.
“I was 12, I think, when he was born, so it’s quite special that he is turning out to be quite good,” she said.
Blenheim Horse Trials dressage: summer of fun is key
Gemma Stevens (née Tattersall) and the eye-catching Flash Cooley are in provisional third, just 0.1 of a penalty behind Lizzie and B Exclusive to go forward to the cross-country on 29.7.
“I feel like the outline is coming better with more self-carriage and I was really pleased with the changes today – although he is good at his changes, he gets a bit worried about them and the head comes up. Today, we kept in the same rhythm and the head stayed down,” said Gemma.
“I felt like the trot work was really smart and I could really enjoy it, ride him forward and ride for every mark. He’s quite lit up, so I’m really pleased he went in there, listened, knuckled down and worked beautifully.”
The key to Pru Dawes’ 10-year-old gelding has been keeping life fun.
“He is a really careful jumper and he is better when he thinks things are really fun and not too serious,” said Gemma. “He goes jumping – and we go against the clock because he loves it.”
The pair won the eventers’ grand prix at Hickstead, won an advanced at Aston-le-Walls and were third at Millstreet CCI4*-S as part of their summer of fun campaign.
“A lot of preparation with him is about him having fun and it staying fun for him is really important. It makes it a lot more fun for us as well!
“He is still only 10 this year, it’s only our second season together and last season was just literally getting to know each other and I feel like this season he has had some fantastic placings and has been so consistent.”
Georgie Goss (née Spence) is in fourth with Nicky Cooper, Suzanne Doggett and Lucy Fleming’s 12-year-old mare Feloupe on 31, fresh from their Cornbury CCI3*-S win last weekend.
Dan Jocelyn is the highest-placed international rider at this stage, with the New Zealander piloting Cooley One To Many to provisional fifth (33.4) for owners Carole King, Francesca Clapham, and Sophie, Shaun and Lucy Allison. Italy’s Roberto Scalisi and the re-trained racehorse Alamein, bought for £700 and who Roberto co-owns with Rosalind Hayward, round out the top six at this stage on 33.6.
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