Calvin Böckmann Retains Lead; Jasmine Underwood Best of Friday at Under-25 World Championships

Hey EN, a quick note before the cross-country preview:

On Saturday, July 18, two statements from British Eventing were posted informing us that two serious incidents had taken place at competitions — one at Swalcliffe in Oxfordshire and one at Penrith in Cumbria. Both events were abandoned for the remainder of the weekend, and live scores were removed from the scoring platform out of respect for those affected. The full statement released by British Eventing can be found here.

Following other losses in our sport, EN has undertaken the following protocol:

These incidents represent incredibly dark days within our sport. We understand that the news cycle is cruel, particularly in cases like this. To help keep the cycle from perpetuating in the light of such loss, EN will continue to publish stories and news on an as-needed/timely basis, but we will refrain from sharing these updates on our social media platforms for the next few days. We feel as powerless as anyone in these situations and feel that the least we can do is not move on lightly. We will also not speculate on the circumstances of the incidents, nor will we allow this to take place in the comments sections.

We also know that there’s a World Championship (two of them — one this weekend at Millstreet for U25 riders and one next month at Aachen for Seniors) right at our doorstep. We’ll be covering these events to honor our commitment to our sponsors as well as to continue to provide coverage of the sport’s key competitions. However, we hope you’ll understand that we don’t feel it appropriate to approach these with our usual happy hype. Our content will be quality, but out of respect to all of those we have lost, we hope to offer this as a time of reflection.

Our thoughts are with all of those affected by these losses and we work for a safe sport in everything we do. We thank you for your understanding.

Anyone affected is encouraged to seek support through the British Eventing Support Trust Helpline, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on 07780 008877.

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“I’m getting a bit nervous,” admitted Germany’s Calvin Böckmann, the day one leader and under-25 World Number One, as he sat in ringside in the grass watching today’s competitors produce their tests. The primary focus of his concern? Great Britain’s Jasmine Underwood and Indian Girl G, the 2024 Young Rider European Champions, who made such a potent impression that he kept their score sheet up on his phone, analysing and assessing each mark as it came in.

It was a close run thing, but in the end, a couple of teensy-weensy lost marks meant that the German rider could breathe a little easier. He and Altair de la Cense will retain first place going into cross-country on a score of 27.6, followed by Ireland’s Jenny Kuehnle and Sammy Davis Junior, who also came forward in the Thursday line-up and put themselves into second place with their 29.2.

Jasmine, for her part, will sit third overnight on a 29.3, at the business end of a leaderboard that’s so tightly packed that just 15.6 penalties covers all 39 competitors.

“She’s quite reliable and quite professional, and she knows what she needs to do in the ring,” says 21-year-old Jasmine of the thirteen-year-old mare, who she bought via the late Caroline Moore as a seven-year-old.

It hasn’t always been plain sailing, though.

“She’s taken me from BE100 [US Training] to CCI4*-L so far, but in the beginning it was a bit of a rocky start, and it took a while for us to form a partnership. She used to bolt around the arena at home, and my dad would be like, ‘we need to sell her.’ But I was determined. I think sometimes you just know, deep down. I don’t think there was any one particular thing I saw in her, I just knew.”

These days, she says, “we have such a great partnership, and we’re on the same page – it’s like we know each other’s thoughts, and I absolutely adore her. She’s my one in a million horse, and I’m so grateful to have her. She’s the angel of the stables, and pretty much the perfect horse.”

Meeting your own expectations as a rider in a highly-pressurised situation is no mean feat, but happily, that’s exactly what Jasmine and her mare did today.

“I’m really pleased with the test she did, and I’d say it’s about where she is,” says Jasmine. “She’s come on so much in the last few years in this phase, and I think she just keeps getting better and better and building on it more with the harder movements in these four-star tests. I’m particularly pleased with how the changes came off – she’s getting really good at them.”

“This is the first time Irish people have done good dressage, isn’t it?” quipped Godfrey Gibbons, who will start cross-country in fourth place on a score of 29.9 with the thirteen-year-old Ballyvillane OBOS. That result also propels the Irish team into the overnight lead – which, okay, yes, is a bit of a rarity for a country that’s so often a leaderboard-climbing entity.

Now, though, they really give their fellow nations something to worry about, while Godfrey, who recently finished a stint based in the UK as stable rider for Tom Jackson, continues to put himself on the map as one of the swiftly rising stars of the future.

Unlike many of his competitors this week, Godfrey is still in the process of getting to know his horse, who he rides for Richard Ames.

“I’ve only been riding him for six or seven months, but he’s done a good bit [with former rider Robbie Kearns] and he’s a very, very honest horse,” says 22-year-old Godfrey. “He always tries so hard, and he’s done great work at home all the way leading up to here and at his events prior. It was nice to just keep that consistent and be able to pull off what we knew he could do.”

The pair come to this event off the back of a tenth place finish in their first CCI4*-S together at the same venue in May, and before that, a decisive victory in the CCI3*-L at Ballindenisk in April.

“It’s been so easy to learn the buttons to him, because he’s always trying so hard,” says Godfrey. “So this is a great starting block – normally, as a country, we’d always be a bit behind on the first day. But it’s a long weekend, so we won’t be getting ahead of ourselves, but it’s great to get that off, for sure.”

France’s Lisa Gualtieri moves down from overnight third to fifth place on her Thursday result of 30 with A d’Aunis.

British-based US rider Cassie Sanger has always been the very picture of cool composure, and like her trainer, Great Britain’s Ros Canter, it’s rare to catch her in a wave of emotion.

But when it comes to eighteen-year-old Fernhill Zoro, she has to catch herself so as not to cry in the mixed zone.

“I’ve known him since I was twelve – he’s so special to me,” Cassie says. “I was at a small barn with a group of amateurs and Alice Roosevelt, who’d bought him from Carol Gee [of Fernhill Sport Horses]. He was Alice’s Young Rider horse, and I was twelve and she was sixteen, and I always thought he was the most special horse in the barn. It was just his nature, and his personality, and the way he looks at you.”

Most of us have been a horse-mad kid who idolises the best horse in the barn, but few get the chance to have that horse for their own. But that’s exactly what happened for Cassie when Alice headed off to university.

“He was her horse of a lifetime, and she never wanted to sell him, so she called me one day and said, ‘would you ride Zoro?’ It was very much right place, right time, and since then, he’s taken me through all the levels, from my first FEI win to my first three-star, my first four-star. He’s taken me around the world, so he’s very special to me.”

The pair were second in the Under-25 CCI4*-L at Bramham, the last time the class was held at the long format, and after sitting out 2025, Zoro returns for his bid at a title that would make a fitting bookend to a career that’s seen him finish in the top ten in seventeen of his 28 FEI starts.

The pair’s 30.2, which sees them take overnight sixth place, is a good start: they’re less than three penalties off the lead, and a tenth of a penalty off their four-star personal best of 30.1.

“He’s very good on the flat, but I would say I’ve struggled in the last little bit with things like those little marks you throw away with straightness, and things that are really up to the rider to fix,” says Cassie. “His way of going is lovely, so it’s really up to me, and that’s why I had to put a lot of pressure on myself in the lead-up to today – because I knew a good bit of it was going to just come down to me riding well and eking out every mark I could get.”

The result, though, is a test that “was the best he’s ever felt in his career with me – and to do that at eighteen years old is pretty special.”

“It’s a little bit of a surprise,” laughs Italy’s Matilda Piovani, moments after posting a 30.2 and taking seventh place on the leaderboard with the charismastic Born West.

For one thing, she points out, “it’s a windy day – and my horse is really hot in the dressage phase, so it’s also a difficult balance.”

But also, “it’s 40 degrees [Celsius] right now in Italy, so for my horse this weather is really fresh. But I wanted to do a good test, because I know that we can.”

Though the pair have plenty of experience together, including placings at four-star and a top-ten finish at the 2021 Young Rider European Championships, breaking the 30 barrier at this level has thus far eluded them – and often, their scores at four-star have been in the upper end of the thirties. But today, it all came together when it counted.

“I know him really well because I made him,” says Matilda. “We’ve been together for ten years now, so we know each other really well. I know what to do to keep him calm, and so does my dressage trainer, who’s in Italy right now but helped me warm up over Facetime.”

25-year-old Matilda is a one-horse rider and a university student in the middle of an economics degree, and balancing a non-horsey career with riding at the top level is how she hopes to continue her journey in the sport. There is, she reckons, no better partner in this goal than Born West, who is “so kind – he always tries his best for me, and he has so much heart. He’s like a dog on the ground, and at the same time as he’s a top sport horse, he’s also a horse my mother and boyfriend can ride around at home.”

Great Britain’s individual competitors Barnie Brotherton and DHI King Nelson were our first pair in the ring in today’s competition, and as such, our first impact-making pair of the day. They posted a 30.3 – just a whisper above their four-star personal best of 28.2 – to take eighth place going into cross-country.

Though the pair have previously represented Great Britain on the victorious Nations Cup team at Bicton a year ago, and have been to a Young Rider European Championships, too, their omission from the team doesn’t come as much of a surprise: the gelding, at just eleven, has proven both his talent and his unpredictability, and as the pair learn the ropes at the upper levels, their results have fluctuated between very competitive placings and non-completions, without much middle ground.

This year, they’ve also had a tricky lead-up to this week, wherein they hope to turn their fortunes around.

“I only had two runs at the start of the year before I broke my arm,” says Barnie. “That put me on the sidelines for six weeks, and I may have taken the cast off early to get back to ride at Bramham CCI4*-S. That was a bit of a test because obviously I hadn’t been able to do much.”

Today, he says, “I didn’t quite prep the movements that I wanted and how I know I could. He was great, and a bit more relaxed than usual, actually, which maybe took away a bit of the activity, but I’m really happy with him.”

The final German team rider, Nicholas Goldbeck, chose the perfect moment to score his four-star personal best with the fourteen-year-old Chintano 7. Their 31.6 put them firmly into ninth place individually, and helps the German team to a close second place provisionally.

“That could be worse for sure,” laughs Nicholas.

Unlike his teammates, the 25-year-old isn’t a professional rider, and just rides the one horse – a partnership that’s ten years in the making.

“I work at a company that sells heat pumps, and then I’m really just concentrated on Chintano, because I think if I have more horses and I’m also working, the time would get shorter and I’d have less time to work with each horse – so he gets all the attention instead,” grins Nico. “He’s truly my best friend, and I’m really happy to be here with him.”

The top ten is rounded out by France’s Clara Cazeneuve and Dolce Gabana, who produced a 31.7 yesterday and remain the best of the fifth-placed French team.

The five-strong national leaderboard has seen some major changes today, but remains remarkably tight: less than ten penalties separate first-placed Ireland from last-placed France.

Day one’s leaders, the US team, now find themselves in fourth going into cross-country, though just over six penalties behind Ireland, and the drop score at this early juncture is that of Olivia Dutton and Jewelent, who put a 35.8 on the board to sit close behind their teammates and 26^th individually.

“It wasn’t our best test, but I was happy with him,” says Olivia. “It’s a big ask to come into this arena, and he was a little bit tense and nervous, so I just tried to hold his hand. Our entry wasn’t great, and we had to kind of build it up after that.”

But, she says of the 14-year-old full brother to Cooley Rosalent, “he’s just incredible, and he always tries so hard – almost too hard, sometimes!”

The gelding was originally produced by Ireland’s Clare Abbott, who rode him to five-star before Olivia’s father, Phillip, took the reins in 2024. In the latter half of last year, Olivia inherited him, and after several runs at three-star, they moved back up to four-star earlier this season.

“We’re still getting to know each other, but we kind of instantly clicked,” says Olivia. “He’s been around and he definitely knows his job, so I’m just really lucky to be partnered with him. The owners and my dad thought it might be a good idea for me to take the ride, and that he might suit me, and I do think he’s a little bit more of a girl’s ride. I’d ridden him a bit when he was my dad’s horse, and we always got along, so it was a pretty easy switchover. I’m just really thankful for his owners, for supporting that.”

Tomorrow’s cross-country phase begins at 12.00 p.m. local time (7.00 a.m. EST) and will be live-streamed in full by ClipMyHorse. We’ll be bringing you a closer look at the hilly, beautifully dressed course designed by Mike Etherington-Smith, very soon. Until then: Go Eventing.

FEI Under-25 World Championships at Millstreet, presented by Connolly’s Red Mills: Website | Live Stream | Entries & Scoring | EN’s Coverage