Small field go forward to final showjumping after Maryland 5 Star final trot-up
The Mars Maryland 5 Star final trot-up was uneventful, with all eight pairs still in the five-star competition passed as fit to continue in the showjumping phase later today. All the horses passed on first inspection, without any being sent to the holding box or asked to trot again.
Only these eight pairs of the 21 starters completed yesterday’s five-star cross-country and so came forward to today’s Maryland 5 Star final trot-up in front of the ground jury, Sweden’s president Christina Klingspor, the USA’s Valerie Pride and France’s Xavier Le Sauce.
Maryland 5 Star final trot-up over: on to showjumping
The final showjumping phase starts at 2pm local time (7pm British time) and as usual, the remaining competitors will jump in reverse order of current standings.
As the leaderboard stands after yesterday’s cross-country, leaders Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class do not have a showjump in hand over compatriots David Doel (Galileo Nieuwmoed) in second or New Zealand’s Tim Price and Falco in third.
According to data analytics experts EquiRatings, Oliver has a 51% win chance, David a 28% win chance and Tim a 21% win chance.
Oliver is bidding for his ninth five-star win and Ballaghmor Class his fourth. If they can take the top spot, Ballaghmor Class will join Ginny Elliot’s Priceless and Michael Jung’s La Biosthetique-Sam FBW as the only horses in eventing who have won more than three five-stars (including Olympics and World Championships as five-stars). Priceless won four and Sam six.
Ballaghmor Class is also lining up his 11th top-five finish at the level, his first being his first Burghley win on his five-star debut in 2017.
The other pairs remaining in the competition and currently placed fourth to eighth are: Buck Davidson (Sorocaima), Bubby Upton (Cola), Jennie Brannigan (Twilightslastgleam), Emily Hamel (Corvett) and Lillian Heard Wood (LCC Barnaby).
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