Oliver Townend has increased Britain’s lead at the top of the eventing World Championships dressage leaderboard with Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan’s Ballaghmor Class.
The British anchor pair secured a super mark of 24.3, enough to slot them into sixth place in the rankings individually. The team have completed the eventing World Championships dressage phase on a total score of 69.2 – a record team dressage score at a World Championships, which leaves them 6.9 points ahead of Germany, who lie in silver at this stage.
World number one Oliver and the 15-year-old grey gelding by Courage II delivered a neat, assured test, with confident changes and bold extensions. The half-passes were not this horse’s strongest point today, but he more than made up for it elsewhere, with nines also coming for the halt, medium canter and harmony between horse and rider.
“I was happy enough with him,” said Oliver afterwards. “Maybe he didn’t quite take me forwards enough in the trot, but I felt once I was in the canter we were away and the work was quality.
“We’ve been trying to get him more forward; he’s a horse who is a little bit introverted – either that or he’s completely explosive,” Oliver added. “So I’m just trying to get him to breathe and to take me a little more in all the paces, and that really showed in the canter. When it shows in the trot too obviously we can produce a better score, but for him to go in there and produce a correct test, it’s very good for him. And obviously it’s very, very good for the team. It’s been a bit of a dream start for the Brits – let’s hope we can keep it up.”
This is Ballaghmor Class’ first World Championships, having carried Oliver to team gold in Tokyo last year, as well as victory in Kentucky the same year.
“It’s nice to be here and it’s a fantastic venue,” said Oliver, who has a good track record himself at Pratoni – he was a member of the gold medal-winning British team here at the Europeans in 2007, riding Flint Curtis.
“It’s good to have the British support, and obviously the Lottery funding and UK Sport behind us. I couldn’t be happier to be here.”
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