Bubby Upton has retained her lead in the under-25 class after a faultless performance on the Bramham Horse Trials cross-country.
Bubby piloted Magic Roundabout IV round Ian Stark’s course to finish a comfortable 10 seconds inside the optimum time. She and the chestnut, who belongs to the rider’s mother Rachel and the Zebedee Syndicate, have a 13.3 lead over the rest of the field ahead of tomorrow’s showjumping.
“It was a big ask for him because people think he’s a lot more experienced than he is. He’s only run twice since May last year – he was off after that last season as he had a freak accident in the field. So with the spring we’ve had, he really lacked prep runs,” said Bubby.
“I had a lot of confidence in him but obviously at the same time I was a little bit uncertain of how he’d cope round this track, my first Bramham and his first Bramham, and he was just phenomenal. He ate up the track and made it feel like a lot of fun. It was a real joy to ride.”
Bubby said the round was going so well she had to keep regaining her focus and keeping herself in check before the combinations. She was on her minute markers at the first and second minutes and then ahead of them, which meant she could give the horse time to breathe at the top of the hills and take her time to set up for the more difficult fences so she didn’t make a “stupid mistake”.
She also credited renowned trainer Caroline Moore for a suggestion which changed how she rode the Suregrow kidney pond fences at 10ab and 11ab. Here riders jumped a log with a drop, took four strides to a log into water, then turned right-handed and jumped two corners on a long three strides, with the first between the two ponds and the second in the water.
“She told me to stay a lot more left jumping that log into the water. I was aiming more right of centre and thank God I did stay left because then it gave me that really nice curve to the corner,” said Bubby. “If you jumped the corner heading even slightly left you were then in real trouble for the last corner.”
Bubby was the only rider to finish inside the time in this section, but Tom Bird was just two seconds over the target. He has moved up from seventh after dressage to second with his own and David Kerry’s Rebel Rhyme.
Sasha Hargreaves’ 10.8 time-faults with her own and Bill and Alison Hargreaves’s Woodlands Be Daring elevated her from sixth to third after the under-25 Bramham Horse Trials cross-country phase. Felicity Collins matched that time and now holds fourth on Shadow Minnie Moon, who she said afterwards is “so brave and has such a big heart”.
Max Warburton and Monbeg Exclusive also stopped the clock with 10.8 time-faults but they broke a frangible device at the Rail, Ditch, Rail at fence eight, dropping from fourth after dressage to sixth.
Richard Coney holds sixth on Poetry In Motion II with 12.4 time-penalties and Emma Thomas seventh on Icarus X. Emma had 20 jumping penalties at The Suregrow Kidney Ponds at fence 11ab and 15.2 time-faults.
France’s Morgane Euriat was second after dressage in this section, but she had a fall at The Bramham Round House at fence six with Baccarat D’Argonne.
Richard Coney’s first ride Mermus R Diamonds held third following the first phase but was also eliminated for a fall.
You might also be interested in:
Why Bramham under-25 leader’s score is so impressive and what’s unique about her position
A bounce into water and a leap of faith: see the fences Ros Canter and Pippa Funnell tackle at Bramham this week
New partnership take the lead as dressage top three meet mixed fortunes on four-star long Bramham cross-country
Meet the palomino competing at Bramham: ‘He’s very striking with bags of ability’
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