It’s tight at the top as yet more longlisted Olympic hopefuls throw their hat into the ring at a key event
The morning session of dressage is complete at Bicton International Horse Trials, supported by Chedington, and the final combination in the arena before lunch today (10 June), Ros Canter and Allstar B (pictured), impressed the judges to score 23. This puts them in equal second with Tom McEwen and Toledo De Kerser, with Laura Collett and London 52 maintaining their early lead on 21.
“I’m delighted — I’m always pleased with him,” said Ros after her test on the 16-year-old she co-owns with Caroline Moore. “He’s always a good boy, it’s just whether the jockey gets everything right on the day. He’s always such a trooper, there was maybe the odd tiny mistake, but nothing disastrous.
“I’ve struggled a little bit this year as I haven’t produced a test like that with Allstar B yet this year — it’s been tricky with the old boys and ‘Alby’ is better when he’s really fit and twice a year he’s always geared up for something big and the one-day events have always been training events,” she explained. “But suddenly, there has been nothing to gear up to and the one-days have become quite important, so it’s been a bit tricky with him but he has suddenly gone up a gear and I’ve reminded myself how to ride him — and it’s all starting to come back into play.”
Credit: Peter Nixon
Along with Ros and Allstar B, Nicola Wilson and Bulana (pictured above) were another of the longlisted Olympic combinations to complete their test this morning. They scored 26.3, which is good enough for ninth place at the moment.
“She was was really good, very rideable and I was thrilled with the test,” said Nicola of the mare owned by Mr James Lambert OBE and Mrs Jo Lambert.“I thought she felt very elegant and she stayed up and out in her frame and did a lot of real quality work. The only mistake was her striking off in the wrong canter lead, which was very disappointing. Over the winter I changed her into a double bridle as she is very feisty and had a tendancy to run through the bridle and she accepts it really well — she’s much lighter to ride in it and it seems to be working great.”
Read the full report from Bicton in the 17 June issue of Horse & Hound magazine and keep checking back to horseandhound.co.uk for further updates and insight
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