If there’s any lorry we’d like to be invited to this evening, it’s Bubby Upton‘s – relentless course-walking notwithstanding, of course. Earlier, we reported on her spectacular comeback from a horrific injury last year, from which she’s returned to take the Thursday morning dressage lead – and now, at the culmination of the day’s competition, we’re thrilled to confirm that she’ll hold onto that lead overnight. There’s never much time to bask in the moment at a five-star, but we hope that Bubby, groom Katie, and the rest of their tight-knit team sneak away from their obligations, analyses, and forward planning to enjoy a celebratory drink in the evening sunshine at the Lake. It’s not every day you put down a 27.3 at five-star, nor is it every day you lead Badminton – and that’s not even taking into account the fact that Britain’s double under-25 National Champion was relearning how to walk just over half a year ago.
Boyd Martin, too, has plenty of reason to enjoy the immaculate vibes of a sun-drenched evening at Badminton: he and Tsetserleg remain in overnight second place on their score of 29, giving themselves a sterling start to their quest to complete the one five-star box left unticked for Boyd in fine style.
Tiana Coudray and Cancaras Girl. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
Tiana Coudray and Cancaras Girl. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
Although the names in the top two slots on the leaderboard remain unchanged, the afternoon certainly wasn’t short on excitement, not least for longtime British-based US rider Tiana Coudray, who stormed to overnight third place after delivering a 29.8 – her horse’s second best test ever at any international level – with the 14-year-old Holsteiner Cancaras Girl.
As she rode out of the ring to one of the most uproarious cheers of the day, it wasn’t just Tiana who was in tears – it was her entire assembled team, helmed by head groom, best friend, and business partner Annabelle James and including familiar faces such as dressage coach Tracey Robinson. A personal best at Badminton would be reason enough for high emotion on its own, but for Tiana, today’s success represents a decade of rebuilding, of working, of striving and selling and reconfiguring dreams, but in whichever form they took, always of dreaming.
“It’s every early morning you get up; it’s every late night – it’s a lot of work for very little reward, but to put it all together on the day is what dreams are made of,” she says, smiling through a fresh torrent of tears. “It’s really special.”
Tiana’s last appearance here came back in 2014, when she completed with her London 2012 Olympics partner, Ringwood Magister, when she was just 25.
“I suppose I was so fortunate, young in my career, to have an amazing horse that I got as a four-year-old and who happened to be my superstar that took me all the way,” she says. But then: “I grew up and life got real — and my business has been buying and selling horses. And so I’ve had some beautiful horses through my yard, but they’ve been sold on because that’s what we had to do.”
A moment worth waiting for: Tiana Coudray is back, baby! Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
Diminutive Cancaras Girl, or Nana, as she’s known at home, was meant to be one of those sales horses – and unlike some of the excellent horses Tiana’s had to sell that she always suspected might be top-level competitors, Nana was only ever intended to be produced and sold on as a lower-level horse for a young rider.
“She’s just my little horse I got off Facebook and she was supposed to do a couple Novices and go to a kid, and here she is,” laughs Tiana. “I saw her posted on Facebook, and she was in the north of Scotland, but I thought, ‘she’s quite cute; some little girl would love to ride her’.”
She flew up to try the mare, and though she wasn’t immediately wowed by her way of going or her jump, “the reason I bought her was because of her heart and her try and her brain. It was definitely not for her movement. She’s not built for this, and her body finds it quite difficult to be loose or supple or have any kind of cadence or swing or any of those things that you kind of need for dressage. But having said that, she’s so trainable and she’s just — I love her.”
The plan, having secured the Facebook deal of the century, was to get the mare to Novice and advertise her – but there were no takers. And so she stayed, and Tiana continued to produce her, assuming that, at some point, a buyer might materialise. As she did so, she began to fall for the little mare’s try-hard attitude more and more.
“To be entirely honest, I’m so grateful that she didn’t move that well and all of that because she would have been sold, because she would have been worth a lot of money,” she says. “And so actually the fact that she was just a little bit ordinary meant that I could keep her. That’s is why she’s my first horse back at this level in all those years — so it was really special.”
A shared journey: Tiana and best friend and business partner Annabelle James. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Though Tiana credits Nana’s attitude with being such a key component in her rise to the top, it’s also, she says, the culmination of a serious team effort.
“She’s such a good girl — she shows up to work every day,” beams Tiana. “She’s 14 now and she’s starting to get where correct training is supposed to get you, I suppose, so it’s really rewarding. She’s definitely not got here on natural ability, but, you know, huge work — great trainers, obviously, and how we work her, and huge work with physios and massage and acupuncture and strengthening exercises. And my team of vets and physios have been incredible just trying to get her back stronger and more supple, and I think it’s really paying off. So, it’s so exciting. But as I say, it’s an unbelievable group of people that have got her here. It’s not me.”
Photo by Tilly Berendt.
For today, at least, the magnitude of the moment hasn’t quite sunk in.
“I cannot believe it – it’s making me cry,” laughs Tiana. “She’s not a natural dressage horse and we’ve worked so hard. The team that has helped me has been just vast and relentless and unbelievable. And even like, three minutes before going in the ring she was melting down and I thought, ‘there’s no hope’ but she was so good in there — just so brave and she tried, every single movement.”
William Fox-Pitt and Grafennacht. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
Irish representative Georgie Goss now sits fourth overnight with Feloupe – a position she shares on the leaderboard with William Fox-Pitt and Grafennacht, who matched their 30.6 this afternoon. They missed out on squeaking into the sub-30 brigade after a rushed first halt saw them begin their test with 5s, though they quickly rallied and delivered a smart test.
“I was very happy, I think — apart from my first halt, which was rubbish,” says William, who finished second at Maryland 5* last autumn with the twelve-year-old. “She must have seen something in front of her in the first halt and she just stepped back and so we deserved that mark, but when you’ve got three grumpy judges there and you want to get on an eight, it’s a bad start. [Otherwise], it was a pretty good test, to be honest. Everyone said [the judges are] stingy, and they certainly were stingy to me. So let’s hope they stay in a bad mood tomorrow!”
As long as the consistency in the stiff marking remains the same, though, William is cheerily pragmatic about where improvements could have been made in his test.
“She did have a little bit of tension in the rein back, and I think she trotted a stride in the canter so there were little expensive imperfections,” he says. “When she had a good mark, she got a seven, and you just want to get [the judges] off 6.5, which is their favourite mark. And that’s kind of where they sat through my test. I wasn’t looking at the scoreboard all the time, but I was having the odd glance, and I thought ‘hmm, okay, try a bit harder!’ She presents well, and has a great outline – her half-passes should have got a nine, but they didn’t. Luckily I’m not a judge!”
There have been murmurings – from William himself, who was quoted at the Conceal Eventing Grand-Prix Showcase at Bruce’s Field saying just that – that this Badminton would be his last. But when the topic comes up today, he retains an air of some mystery around the matter of his retirement from the top of the sport.
“It should be, for all intents and purposes, but you know, who knows?” says William. “I’m never going to say never but I think it should be. This weekend shouldn’t sway me one way or the other – I’m quite clear. It would be easy to fall off and give up, wouldn’t it? But it would be tougher to give up on a good one, but that’s kind of what I would like. I’d like to jump the jumps and then think, ‘thank God I haven’t got to do that again.’”
Cosby Green and Copper Beach. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
5* debutant Max Warburton now sits in sixth place, followed by Switzerland’s Felix Vogg in seventh and the week’s pathfinders, Tom Jackson and Farndon, in eighth on a score of 33. Just below that, though, is another new addition to our top ten: Cosby Green and the former Buck Davidson ride Copper Beach, who put a 33.7 on the board to take overnight ninth place ahead of David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed.
“I’m really pleased — I felt it was a clear round, with no massive mistakes, so I really can’t ask for much more than that,” says Cosby, who’s basing with Tim and Jonelle Price for the second year.
“I’m back for year two — I wasn’t expecting that a year ago, but I just loved it too much!” she laughs. “I’ve been following them around [this week] and just trying to get their confidence.”
It’s no surprise, really, that Cosby has found her niche with the Prices – after all, it was where the Lexington, Kentucky native always wanted to be.
“It’s always been a dream of mine since I was a little, little kid,” she says. “And then I’d just graduated from uni; it was about a month before I graduated and I didn’t know what I wanted to do, and I decided to make a sacrifice and bite the bullet and come over and do it, because I want to be the best in the world. And I did quite literally go to the best in the world! I’ve idolised specifically Jonelle since I was a little girl, so I just went out on a whim and sent her an email, had no connections or anything, just told her I was looking for somewhere to go and they’d happen to have moved to Chedington, and so there was space for me to come. It was just pretty much just like a fairy tale. I had didn’t know a soul over here, and they just took me in with open arms.”
Last year, Cosby was able to attend Badminton on foot and get a feel for the event, and how it functions from a rider’s perspective – something she says has been enormously helpful for her debut this year.
“I’m so glad I did that, because otherwise I would have been in shock yesterday just seeing the people at the trot up,” she says. “I was really nervous just for the number of people. So I’m glad I have a little bit more expectation of especially what to expect on Saturday with the crowds.”
This is Cosby’s second five-star start; she made her debut with eighteen-year-old Copper Beach last season at Pau, finishing sixteenth. But the chestnut gelding also brings plenty of his own top-level experience to the table – he’s successfully completed several runs at Kentucky, as well as one at Pau, with Buck aboard.
“He’s such a saint to be able to teach me as well. Every day he amazes me that he was able to have the career he did with Buck, and then he just keeps showing up for me. It was a bit tricky at first to kind of understand what he was used to and me and trying to learn to ride a bit like Buck, and now we’ve just kind of created our own unique partnership — now, we can read each other’s minds. So it was tricky, but we’re best friends now.”
Though Cosby’s been able to head home in the off-season to ride and work and catch up with her nearest and dearest while her horses here had a holiday, it’s still a major leap to relocate to another country at the age of just 23 – but, she says, “[My family is] so supportive. They were pushing me out the door onto the plane just because they’re so supportive and they want me to be the best as well. They’re just lovely and push me and everything; they’re really happy and want me to stay as long as I can.”
Jessica Phoenix and Wabbit. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
Canada’s sole representatives this week, Jessie Phoenix and the ex-racehorse Wabbit, didn’t come to England to throw down the gauntlet in the dressage ring, and so Jessie was unruffled by their first-phase score of 40.3, which puts them into 34th at the end of the first day.
“You know what, he showed a lot of composure in that ring. He’s the fittest he’s ever been, and after looking at the cross country course on Saturday I think that’s a good thing for the rest of the week, but it definitely was a lot for him to maintain his composure in there today. I was just looking at the scores from last year, and last year the second place score was a 43, so as long as we can finish on a 40 we’ll be good,” she says with a grin. “It really didn’t feel that electric, but Wabbit has been really thinking about Saturday all week. Yesterday in his ring familiarization he was like, the coolest dude, hanging out grazing, just like he was on a hack, and then today he was thinking about Saturday. Which isn’t a bad thing!”
Jessica Phoenix and Wabbit enjoy the atmosphere at their first Badminton. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
It’s not hard to imagine that they might finish somewhere pretty close to that dressage score: last year at Burghley, Jessie and Wabbit added just 10.8 time penalties on cross-country day, plus a rail and 1.2 time penalties on Sunday, to finish 11th, and at Kentucky, they added just 2 time penalties across the country. At Maryland the year prior, they ran clear and inside the time. And while Badminton is a new experience for both horse and rider, that just adds to the fun and the challenge, as far as Jessie’s concerned.
“It’s just second to none,” she says of the event. “It is one of the best events we’ve ever been to in the world. Just from the way they take care of the horses and the riders and the owners, and the way they present everything, it’s just really incredible. [I had an entry for Kentucky, too, but] plan A was always to come here. We were just kind of touching base with the weather moving forward, because it’s a big venture to put a horse on a plane and come over if the footing is going to be too wet to run, but honestly, I’m so thankful that we made the trip here. The footing looks like it’s going to dry out, and I think it’s definitely a competition that will be good for Wabbit. I think he has the ability to really move up on Saturday with a fast, clear round.”
Tomorrow takes us into a packed second day of dressage, starting at 9.00 a.m. BST/4.00 a.m. EST with Louise Harwood and Native Spirit. Highlights on the roster include 2022 Pau winners Jonelle Price and Grappa Nera, who can be excellent or explosive in the ring, so will be an exciting watch any which way; last year’s Pau champions and Blenheim winners Ros Canter and Izilot DHI; US representatives Grace Taylor and Game Changer, who went sub-30 at Burghley last year; our final US pair Allie Knowles and her fan favourite, Morswood; double Grantham Cup winners Emily King and Valmy Biats; Tim Price and Vitali, who set the Burghley record of 18.7 last year; Bicton pop-up CCI5* winners Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight; and Bramham winners Pippa Funnell and MCS Maverick. Ahh, but wait, there’s more: consider Tom Jackson and 2022 Burghley runner-up Capels Hollow Drift, or Caroline Powell and the excellent Greenacres Special Cavalier, or… actually, maybe it’s best if you just consult tomorrow’s line-up yourself, and plan to tune in for the whole thing, because it really is very good.
Once again, we’ll have expert live commentary from Cheg throughout the entire day of competition, and if you want an in-depth round-up of each test today, you can revisit her updates here. We’ll be back very soon with lots more from Badminton – until then, Go Eventing!
The top ten at the end of day one of dressage at the 2024 MARS Badminton Horse Trials.
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