Kate Green reports and Trevor Holt took the photos…
Ever since Christopher Burton produced a stunning trailblazing round at the London Olympics four years ago that was the stuff of course-designer’s dreams, the sport’s cognoscenti in Britain, where he has been based for five years, has kept an interested eye on the career of this polite, uber-cool talent.
At Burghley, he fully justified that interest, when he became the third Australian to triumph at the legendarily tough British four-star after Andrew Hoy (in 1979 and 2004) and Lucinda Fredericks (2006).
The first two phases looked ridiculously easy: Christopher and Nobilis 18, a leggy, graceful 17hh gelding produced to one-star level by Olympic champion Michael Jung, floated through the dressage to put clear water – 30.2 penalties compared to 34.5 – between him and Germany’s Bettina Hoy (Designer 10), who is no slouch in this phase.
Christopher and Nobilis 18
Andrew Hoy and The Blue Frontier
Bill Levett and Improvise
Next day, Christopher set off at the end of a dramatic and soggy cross-country phase that had been tripping up both inexperienced and seasoned competitors and made it look a breeze; he finished with the second fastest time (eight seconds over 11 minutes 11 seconds) and handed himself a two-fence lead over last year’s runners-up, the fluent Kiwi Tim Price on Ringwood Sky Boy.
By the time Christopher cantered serenely into the showjumping arena, he had a luxurious four rails in hand. This was courtesy of Tim’s 12 faults, which dropped him to fourth place, and the six from Burghley veterans Andrew Nicholson and Nereo, who had been third after cross-country. Suddenly, though, things didn’t look so secure. Nobilis became dangerously flat in the air and down came a couple of rails.
Somehow they reached the last two fences of Richard Jeffrey’s fair but influential course unscathed and, perhaps in sheer relief, whacked those as well. It wasn’t quite the right way to nail a four-star win, and you could tell by Christopher’s face that he knew it, his grin one of relief more than triumph. “I thought I’d make it more interesting for you,” he said. “I did have nine lives in there. He [the horse] warmed up well, and is normally a careful jumper, but then he got a bit flat and tired in there. It still feels a nice day, though. In fact, it’s unbelievable.”
Andrew Hoy and Rutherglen
After the dressage phase, it looked as Australian flags would be all over Burghley, with Andrew Hoy (sixth on The Blue Frontier), Sam Griffiths (eighth on the 17-year-old Happy Times – ‘he’s like Roger Federer, old but has still got it’), Bill Levett (12th on Improvise), Shane Rose (13th on Virgil) and Sonja Johnson (19th on Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison), plus Shane and Andrew’s other rides and Paul Tapner’s two all in close contention. In the end, though, only Shane could keep Christopher company in the top 20, in 16th place on Virgil.
Sonja Johnson and Parkiarrup Illicit Liaison
Shane was 13th after dressage, dropped to 25th after incurring 11 penalties for triggering a frangible device at the Crossrail at fence 25, and then bounced back up the order after producing a smart clear show jumping round, one of only five.
For others, it all quickly unraveled. Everyone was gutted for Rio hero Sam Griffiths, who was enjoying his seventh Burghley run on Happy Times when forced to pull up due to a broken stirrup. Sonja had a crashing fall with her cute little chestnut when taking the alternative at the Rolex corners and Paul Tapner was taken to hospital for a check-up after tipping off Up In The Air at a set of rails (Herbert’s Hollow) on undulating ground.
All was going well for Andrew Hoy and The Blue Frontier, a horse passed to him after world champion Sandra Auffarth reputedly found it difficult to get a tune out of the handsome Irish grey in the dressage, until they got to the Trout Hatchery, Burghley’s centrepiece water complex, and crumpled on landing in a giant splashy wave. Earlier in the day, Shane had rocketed purposefully out of the start box on his first ride, Shanghai Joe, but had to pull up the tiring horse two fences from home.
Shane Rose and Virgil
Andrew had a smooth, careful round on the long-striding Rutherglen for 15th place at this stage, but next day a dispiriting six show jumps down dropped the pair to 20th ; Bill Levett was in ninth place after cross-country having put in a feisty round for 20 time penalties, but had to withdraw Improvise overnight.
Another big name to have a bad day at the office was Britain’s Pippa Funnell, who famously captured the Rolex Grand Slam at Burghley back in 2003 – she was giving it a great crack on Second Supreme, one of the few horses with which she has struggled in the dressage arena, but he stumbled on landing in the Trout Hatchery and she went out of the front door.
Paul Tapner and Up In The Air
Record six-time winner William Fox-Pitt, perhaps adopting the carefree attitude of one who doesn’t have to ride it, had suggested in a well-known magazine that this year’s course was soft. It wasn’t. By the end of the day, there were 28 clear rounds from the 68 cross-country starters but 28 failed to complete, there were run-outs and unseatings galore and, as Andrew Nicholson quipped, designer Mark Phillips has “got the hang of making the time difficult now”.
As few senior riders had two horses, the early part of the day lacked the traditionally reassuring rounds by the likes of Andrew, William and Sam – although British number one Oliver Townend did a great job on Dromgurrihy Blue – and there were a lot of green faces in the riders’ tent.
Chris Burton and Nobilis 18
Mark admitted he was disappointed in the overall showing, especially in the amount of faults at the Discovery Valley (a complex involving a ditch and angled brush carved in the shape of a Land Rover, which he had softened this year) and said that perhaps riders hadn’t learned how to cope with the direction of the track, which he changed last year, a theory Andrew Nicholson concurred with.
As Andrew pointed out, the track now starts with Burghley house on the rider’s left and heads straight into a wall of people, who line the bridge excitedly to watch the two water crossings, which had become deeper in the rain. The first famously caused Michael Jung to have a rare trip, on fischerRocana last year; the second had a huge brush fence into the water that caused a number of riders to tip forward and become unbalanced. This quite hectic start did seem to take some riders by surprise, as did the continually undulating terrain that is Burghley’s unique test.
Sam Griffiths and Happy Times
It’s been an interesting year for four-star eventing, coming a decade since the first short format CCI4* (no steeplechase or roads and tracks – who remembers them?) was introduced at Burghley, and at a time when course-designers seem to be consciously readjusting the influence of the cross-country to where it once was. As Rio bronze medalist Phillip Dutton (20th on Fernhill Fugitive) put it: “Four-star is supposed to be elite.”
When, in the final press conference, Christopher Burton mentioned that he’d taken a walk down Burghley’s historic chestnut-tree lined Winner’s Avenue, where a line of plaques bears names such as Richard Meade, Sheila Willcox and Bruce Davidson, his pleasure was evident: “I saw all these old boys with their names up there and I thought I’d like to be there, too.”
It was also a cheeky side-swipe at the man sitting beside him, runner-up Andrew Nicholson, who is 21 years his senior, has won Burghley five times and wasn’t letting a few inconveniences – a considerable loss of strength since his C7 vertebra exploded in a fall last year and nearly paralysed him, or having to forgo his spectacles in the rain – stop him showing exactly how you’re supposed to ride Burghley.
Shane Rose and Shanghai Joe
Jonelle Price, the fastest woman on the planet, who was third on the thoroughbred mare Classic Moet, and her husband, Tim, fourth, are in their 30s, as is last year’s winner, Michael Jung (34), and 2009 winner Oliver Townend (33), who finished seventh on the relatively inexperienced Samuel Thomas and best of a British contingent that was lacking in star names.
After that, the average age rises significantly. Frenchman Cedric Lyard, fifth on Cadeau du Roi, is 44; Bettina Hoy, sixth, is 53; New Zealanders Caroline Powell, eighth on Onwards and Upwards, Sir Mark Todd, ninth on NZB Campino, and Blyth Tait, 11th on Bear Necessity V – they have eight Burghley wins between them – are aged 43, 60 and 55 respectively. Kristina Cook, 10th on Star Witness, is 46. Andrew Hoy’s first Burghley win was 37 years ago.
Jonelle Price and Classic Moet
Experience tells, and perhaps that seemingly old-fashioned experience of the epic four-stars of another age, and the horsemanship and judging of pace needed for them, is what is keeping them at the top.
Only three first-timers got a look-in in the top 20: Americans Elisa Wallace, 14th on Simply Priceless, and judge Marilyn Payne’s daughter Holly Payne-Caravella, 19th on Never Outfoxed, and Britain’s Becky Woolven, 17th on Charlton Riverdance.
Recent four-stars – and the World Equestrian Games in 2014 – have perceptibly emphasised the difference between that level and the many CIC3*s available, and it was significant that most horses in the top 10 had, as well as nice paces, plenty of blood and heart for the job. “You need to pick your horse for this game,” advised Tina Cook.
Her Star Witness, a three-year-old purchase from Doncaster bloodstock sales, was eighth and best British horse at Burghley last year and seventh and second-best British horse with a double clear at Badminton. “He finds the dressage difficult, but is magic across country.” The thoroughbred’s lack of prowess on the flat – he averages around 50 – probably precluded him from the British team in Rio (Tina was travelling reserve), a move that with the usual cleverness of hindsight now looks like a mistake.
A lack of British interest at Burghley, and a terrible weather forecast on cross-country day, didn’t stop a vast 100,000-plus crowd turning up enthusiastically – the Kiwi and Aussie riders based here are hugely popular and everyone went mad for Michael Jung last year – but Britain has never been so short of four-star horses. This is extraordinary for a nation that has won most of its medals, including pulling up to silver at the 2014 WEG, on the basis of four-star cross-country prowess, and, with a change in team management imminent, is likely to be top of the list for the new personnel.
William Fox-Pitt, Zara Phillips, Harry Meade and Nicola Wilson, members of the 2014 squad, were all notable absentees from Burghley, as was Izzy Taylor, the UK’s answer to Jonelle Price, and commentators kept reiterating this lack of home interest.
Harry Meade, who an Irish commentator recently described as “the son of Richard Meade, the original of the species”, wrote after Rio in Horse & Hound that more value should be placed on four-star results. Six-time Badminton winner Lucinda Green, who was unimpressed by some of the riding at Burghley, thinks that four-year-old classes should be banned, and that horses should be brought on more slowly in order to develop the strength needed for four-star. Not all nations have been complimentary about the Rio course.
The discussion, particularly in the light of the debate as how best to keep eventing in the Olympics, will run and run, but Christopher Burton should be proud to know that the competition he won was the real deal.
Kate Green has been an equestrian journalist for 25 years, reporting on four Olympic Games and volunteering at the fifth, and has written nine books on eventing. She is now deputy editor of Country Life and still involved behind the scenes in a number of events.