Ros Canter retained first place overnight after the Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country phase, but not with her dressage leader Izilot DHI, who retired early on the course. Instead, her 2023 Badminton and European champion Lordships Graffalo coasted home inside the time, to take a 3.5pen lead over Tim Price and Vitali going into showjumping.
Lordships Graffalo’s round was typically uneventful – as all the best cross-country performances are. Ros rode in immaculate balance on a relaxed rein, making all Derek di Grazia’s tricky combinations look straightforward.
“I don’t think I enjoyed it, but I’m always comfortable on him,” said Ros. “I love riding him and we had a good chat on the way round. It’s a long way down after Cottesmore Leap and even he, who is normally very light coming down a hill, felt a bit heavy, so that’s the first time I had to chat him home. But every time I landed and said ‘would you like to gallop?’, he was off again.
“It’s the ground that makes it so tough – you can’t see the ridge and furrow but it’s there all the time, even when you’re going downhill, like moguls on a ski hill.”
Despite Ros’ outstanding achievements in the sport, she came to Burghley feeling like she “hadn’t nailed it”.
“We always thought Burghley might be another great event for Walter, but I’m quite relieved to be honest,” she said. “I didn’t feel I’d cracked it here until this afternoon, and when this morning went fairly catastrophically wrong very early it’s been a long wait.
“I’m very proud to have a horse like ‘Walter’ to pilot here. You have plans on cross-country day and he lets you perform the plan. There aren’t that many you can do that on. But he’s so scopey and finds the distances easy.”
Although the intensity of this course was stacked in the first two thirds, Ros was taking nothing for granted. There was a roof over the final fence, something that has proved problematic for Lordships Graffalo in the past.
“I was holding my breath until the last minute because he doesn’t like jumps with things over the top,” Ros said. “As a six-year-old he fell at a fence with a roof in his first intermediate – and when I lent him to Tom McEwen when I was pregnant, he had a job getting him through owl holes as he used to crouch. It wasn’t over until the finish.”
Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza produced a phenomenal round to move up from 10th to third. This British-based French pair are known as a speedy combination and were well up on the clock most of the way. They had a few slightly ragged moments, but although she has her own style, the mare is so nimble. They were fast and flat through the Defender Valley at fence 5, but like a cat she just picked her toes up and charged on. She was originally given 15pen for a flag at the Trout Hatchery but this was quickly removed.
“I wanted to go out and mean business and show what we can do,” said Gaspard. “I was never going to go straight at the Leaf Pit, but everyone was jumping it well, so I said, ‘let’s do that’. She was on it the whole way, keen and strong. She has so much blood and is so clever with her legs, I am so happy with her.”
Gaspard was referring to her dexterity at the Rolex Corners, where Gaspard asked for four strides and she added in a little one, twisted over the fence and on she went, kicking the flag with her back legs.
“I made a bad decision at Rolex Corners and she just looked after me,” Gaspard added. “It’s her first five-star completion, but she jumped like she’s done it her whole life.”
Pippa Funnell posted another Burghley cross-country completion after her earlier retirement on MCS Maverick with her veteran campaigner Majas Hope. They did incur 15pen for a flag at the Trout Hatchery corner (11b), and added 19.6 time-faults, having taken a last-minute long route at the Leaf Pit.
Susie Berry was having a super-smooth ride on Wellfield Lincoln, her Paris 2024 ride, and was up on the clock at the Defender Dairy Mound. However, the 11-year-old never locked on to the angled house, floating past the final element to incur 20pen. She jumped one more fence before retiring.
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