Tom Jackson presents Hawk Eye amid record crowds for Badminton’s Wednesday showing. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
As Smash Mouth once sang (kind of), the five-stars start coming and they simply do. Not. Stop. Coming. Adelaide? Kentucky? Completed them, mate, with barely enough time to do some deep breathing into a paper bag before we’re back in business at the MARS Badminton Horse Trials. What a thrill! What a delight! What is sleep, anyway, and who needs it when there’s this much wall-to-wall eventing action to throw ourselves into instead?
We’re back, baby. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
This , though, is a Badminton that’s felt plagued by stage-left exits so far, not necessarily because there’s been more than usual, but because they’ve all been so crammed into the eleventh hour: Ireland saw Susie Berry and Clever Trick and Joseph Murphy and Belline Fighting Spirit withdraw one after the other, two days ago and yesterday, respectively; the USA’s Cosby Green pulled one of her horses, Highly Suspicious, earlier this week; Oliver Townend, in a shock to the eventing-fan ecosystem, pulled joint-favourite Cooley Rosalent from contention on Monday; and then, lord help us, Gemma Stevens announced just a few hours ago that one of her two rides, the five-star first-timer Chilli King, had felt not “quite as I would like for such a tough test,” and would not be competing this week. Excellent horsemanship? Absolutely. A few days of total whiplash for fans and followers. Completely.
Alex Braggs and Quindiva. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
So it was a relief, really, to have a first horse inspection with relatively little stress, because most of us headed down to the lawn of the house firmly expecting to say goodbye to a couple more of our now 61 combinations.
Wouter de Cleene and Quintera. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
In the end, just two horses and riders made a visit to the holding box: Belgium’s Wouter de Cleene and Quintera, and Great Britain’s Alex Bragg and Quindiva, podium finishers here two years ago, both suffered through the stress of re-inspection, but with happy results for both when each horse was quickly accepted into the competition on their second go-round.
Simon Grieve and Autograf. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Jewellers Hi Ho Silver were on hand as usual to present best-dressed awards, though in a departure from form they added a third to the mix. The best-dressed man prize went to Simon Grieve, who brings crowd favourite Autograf forward this week; the best-dressed woman prize was given to Emily King, who presented the stalwart Valmy Biats in an eye-catching blue jumpsuit.
Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
A ‘special prize’, too, was awarded to British-based Frenchman Gaspard Maksud, a man who’s always good for a comedy effort at a trot-up, and who didn’t disappoint with his overt nod to the, um, coq Gaulois.
Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Now we turn our attention to the first phase, which kicks off tomorrow morning at 10.00 a.m. local time (5.00 a.m. EST), with triple-handed Harry Meade first up to bat with Et Hop du Matz. He’ll be followed by British-based US representative Cosby Green, who rides Jos Ufo de Quidam at 10.08 a.m. (5.08 a.m. EST). You can check out the times in full here, and if you want to follow along with all the action from afar, make sure you’ve secured your Badminton TV pass, which gives you all the action – and that of years prior – for just shy of £23.
As always, we’ll be bringing you comprehensive coverage of the competition, plus live updates and plenty of extra tidbits – and you can make sure you don’t miss any of our pieces by checking in with our Ultimate Guide, where we’ll list all our articles and live blogs as they go live. Until next time: Go Eventing!
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