At the close of dressage day 1 at Mars Badminton Horse Trials, the results sheet is dominated by Brits who take up the first 9 places. Amy Powell reports on the first day of action. 7

Storming into the lead after the afternoon coffee break with his best 5* dressage score to date of 22.4 penalties, was Tom McEwen riding his Paris gold medal winning mount, JL Dublin. The pair gave the crowds an almost foot perfect performance were it not for a blip in the first medium trot of the test, “Shame that in our highlight piece we broke [into canter] and I let him get too long, but do you know what, he was absolutely awesome,” Tom said of the 14-year-old Holsteiner gelding, “He pulled together a super, super test, and he’s got a mark that he deserved, even with the mistake.”

Tom has prepared the seasoned campaigner meticulously for the event, “he’s an unbelievably talented horse, as we all know, but we’ve been really saving him [for the big occasion], and we’ve got here and he’s been on it all week and is really keen to perform. I’m delighted we got an afternoon dressage test, because for him, the worst thing would’ve have been an empty arena and in the morning. if it had been completely busy, he would have gone up a level again.”

Swiftly following Tom’s performance, and off the back of her first Badminton completion in 2024, was Emily King on her stalwart 5* campaigner, Valmy Biats, scoring 27.3 which was good enough to put the combination into second overnight. “I am so pleased with him, he went in there and he definitely held his breath a bit, he still felt amazing in there but he went a bit tight, so I had to just adapt a little bit, but he stayed so with me, which I was very proud of him for doing.”

The 16-year-old Selle Francais gelding showed less tension in the arena than in previous years, which Emily puts down to exposing him to the movements in multiple settings throughout their lead up to the event, “I did a lot of test riding with him and the set pieces in different atmospheres this Spring, he’s funny, he’s not a silly, scatty one, but he goes in there and holds his breath, so I just need him to learn that it’s ok, and that’s definitely helped a bit in there”.

Both surprising and delighting the crowds, bursting into the top three at his first 5* attempt, let alone a Mars Badminton debut, was Tom Woodward on Low Moor Lucky. The combination pulled a 27.9 score, one of the best Badminton debuts on record, and the sprint from from the media center (where I was watching his test) to the mixed zone on the other side of the arena to catch his reaction was a rather scathing indictment of my fitness levels, but well worth the mild groin injury I incurred en route. “He’s never seen a crowd like that, but he just takes everything in and is Mr Cool, he’s just a super cool horse and nothing phases him.”

“he’s just immense and I can’t thank the horse enough.” Tom said of the 18-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding – the oldest in the field this year, I believe. Tom has partnered this horse for 7 years, who has escorted him up the levels from BE100 all the way up to 5*. “He was backed at 9 and is called Lucky as he was given one final chance!” Tom said of the horse that was given to him to ride amongst a group of “fairly feral” horses from the breeder, who’s comment was “if you can get them on the lorry, you can take them.” Having only done his first BE event in the September of his ten-year-old year, Tom then bought Lucky as an 11-year-old and the two have been partners ever since, “we’ll get through this week and see what else he wants to give, but if he decides that one [5* event] is enough, then that’s fine by me, he doesn’t owe me anything.”

The second day of dressage starts again tomorrow at 9:00, as we see the big hitters of the likes of past Badminton winners, Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo in the first section of the morning and last to go, New Zealand’s Tim Price and Vitali – both combinations perfectly capable of shaking up the overnight leaderboard.