Kitty King has surely secured herself a place on the British team for the forthcoming European Championships in Luhmühlen, Germany after winning the principal class at Burgham, the Newton Hall CCI4*-S, on Vendredi Biats.
Third after dressage, Kitty and the grey 10-year-old capitalised on showjumping mistakes from leader Oliver Townend (Ballaghmor Class) and Izzy Taylor (Springpower) to take the lead going into the final cross-country phase. She flew round David Evans’ track, which demanded accuracy and boldness, with just 4.4 time-faults to secure victory on a score of 30.5.
I’m thrilled to win this – it’s always a great class up here and very competitive, full of the best horses,”
said Kitty.
Vendredi Biats felt really good in all three phases and did it all easily. It’s been well worth the 7hr drive!”
Vendredi Biats, owned by Sally Eyre, Samantha Wilson, Diana Bown and Sally Lloyd-Baker, also won the CCI4*-L at Bramham earlier this summer.
Oliver Townend finished second in the Newton Hall CCI4*-S on his 2017 Burghley winner Ballaghmor Class – with whom he took this class in 2018 – 2.2 penalties behind Kitty, while Izzy Taylor and Springpower took third with the second-fastest cross-country time of the day. Irish pair Tony Kennedy and Westeria Lane, ninth, were the only combination not to pick up time-penalties in that phase.
Piggy French scored her ninth international success of 2019 by taking the Howard Russell CCI3*-S on Highdown March, owned by John and Judith Addicott and the March Stud. She finished on her dressage score of 29.7 on the eight-year-old Jaguar Mail gelding.
He was a later starter in life, but he’s a really genuine, talented, scopey horse who’s got everything going for him,”
said Piggy.
He’s super-easy to ride – you could ride him in a headcollar.”
Second was young Irish rider Susie Berry – who is based at Piggy’s Northamptonshire yard – on Helen Caton’s John The Bull. They added four penalties for one showjump down to their dressage score of 26.1 to finish 0.4 of a penalty behind Piggy. Izzy Taylor took third place on Camilla Behrens’ Hartacker.
Harry Meade dominated the Metnor Group CCI2*-S, taking first place with Peter Harris’s Merrywell Tradition, a seven-year-old by King’s Master, and third place with John and Chloe Perry and Alison Swinburn’s six-year-old Brookfield Cavalier Cruise. Tom Jackson slotted into second with SHE Eventing’s Ask For Manchier. All three horses made the time allowed on first-time international course-designer Blyth Tait’s cross-country track and finished on their dressage scores.
Event Director Martyn Johnson said:
It’s been a brilliant event once again. Burgham has quickly developed a reputation for attracting the best horses in the world – there were six horses under consideration for the European Championships here this weekend – and the feedback from riders, owners and other stakeholders has been great. We are very grateful to our sponsors, our landowners and everybody who has put so much into making Burgham such a special event.”
For more information, visit www.burghaminternationalhorsetrials.co.uk.
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.