After a tense day of show jumping with clear rounds as rare as hens teeth and tears aplenty, the Mars Badminton Horse Trials 2025 winner is crowned. Amy Powell reports on the last day of what was, once again, a vintage year of competition.
The first action of the day was the final vet inspection, which saw 5 withdrawals overnight (that wouldn’t trouble the leaderboard) and after both of Oliver Townend’s rides were sent to the holding box, his longtime 5* partner, Ballaghmor Class, who was sat handily in 7th overnight was withdrawn and, thankfully, his overnight leader Cooley Rosalent was accepted on representation.
The morning session of showjumping – the largest field that I can recall for some years, of 33 competitors – set the precedence from the off with only two clear rounds inside the time, most notably from Libby Seed and Heartbreaker Star Quality who propelled themselves from 56th after dressage (and 27th after cross country with zero jumping penalties) to overall 18th Place, giving them their best Badminton result to date.
So to the top 20 riders and, once again, clear rounds were sparce and rails costly, thanks to a tricky first fence on the right rein at the top of the arena by the members enclosure which saw three casualties, and fence five, an upright set of burgundy and white rails with one wing designed as a bridge which seemed to fool horses into thinking it was a wide jump, which caused trouble for four competitors in total.
As we edged towards the final 10, the crowds were desperate for another clear round, having only seen GB’s Harry Meade (jumping out of order owing to having two rides in 7th and 5th) deliver the sole clear on Cavalier Crystal as the first in the atmospheric arena this afternoon to remain on their dressage score of 33.8 and finish in eventual 4th place.
Tenth spot was filled by Tim Price a Vitali, who never really looked on their customary form all week with a tense dressage test leaving them off the mark on a score of 30.6 and then adding 3.6 time penalties after cross country and then having three fences round in the showjumping today for a finishing score of 46.2.
After a disappointing 11 penalties for breaking a frangible pin and collecting 10.8 time penalties out on the cross country course yesterday, Britain’s Tom McEwen then entered the arena on his Paris Olympic gold medal winning partner, JL Dublin and delivered a text-book clear round inside the time, to the delight of the crowds. This propelled the pair back up the leaderboard to finish just within the top 10 in 9th place, and improving their end to the week.
Eighth place was taken by GB’s Bubby Upton on board her family-owned Cola, matching their best placing here back in 2023. Seventh went to Germany’s Cristoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH – the Hanoverian gelding went a bit green in the arena and appeared slightly overwhelmed by the atmosphere, but also lost a shoe coming over fence eight, which made the rest of the round rather slippery. But this 13-year-old is certainly one to look out for in the future and must surely be a possible contender for this Autumn’s European championships.
Harry Meade’s second ride, Superstition, sadly slipped down the order from 5th after cross country to eventual 6th after “one quite dramatic heart in the mouth moment” for Harry at fence 10 which, in his words “would have been a long way to come to not finish a three day event but luckily he stayed on his feet”, leaving the pair on a finishing score of 39.8. Harry was also full of praise for Cavalier Crystal who has steadily climbed the ranks all week from 33rd after dressage, the 15-year-old bay mare “was just magic, it was as nice a round I’ve ever felt on the horse performing on a three-day event,” he said of her. So an incredible end to a very good week for Harry Meade who must be knocking on the door for an individual spot at the Europeans at the very least, with a fairytale fortnight and four fantastic 5* performances between Kentucky and Badminton.
Britain’s Emily King and Valmy Biats had just the one rail down which didn’t do them any harm as they finished on a score of 38.5 to give them another top 5 5* finishing place, “he felt exceptional, so fresh and was a superstar”, she said of the 16 year old French-bred gelding.
Unfortunately, the rails came off for Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight, who had sat in third place after cross country, but tipped four show jumps down to add a total of 20 penalties to their dressage score, dropping the pair out of contention. It was, however, a momentous day for Ireland’s Austin O’Connor who repeated his third place from 2023 here with Colorado Blue, a horse with a chequered show jumping record. But the pair achieved the best ever Irish finishing score here at Badminton after a flawless clear showjumping round but stopping the clock just a fraction over the time allowed to add 0.4 penalties to their score and complete on 31.2 penalties, having started their competition in 20th place after dressage.
“I knew in my heart of hearts he was still as good a jumper as ever, has he ever jumped like that [though]? He was brilliant,”
Austin said of ‘Salty’, the 16-year-old Irish Sports Horse,
“he’s 16 and he’s just getting better and better. To be on the podium here, is a dream,” he said, portraying just a hint of emotion behind the tough Irish exterior of a man who’s seen his fair share of 5 stars.
Sadly, it was yet another case of ‘always the bridesmaid’ for GB’s Oliver Townend who entered the arena as the overnight leader but without the safety blanket of a rail in hand. Although he cleared the two bogey fences of the day, it was the oxer at fence 10 which caught out the abundantly talented Cooley Rosalent to drop them down into eventual second for the fifth time here in his career to finish on a score of 26.3, at a cost of £53,000 drop in prize money.
“She is incredible and she’s still very young, I thought she jumped a good round, probably a better one than when she won Kentucky, really,” Oliver mused of the 11-year-old Irish Sports Horse mare. “That’s this place a little bit as well for me really, it takes a bit of winning this one. Nine [5* wins] have gone our way and 22 haven’t, but [it’s] another podium. I couldn’t be prouder of her.”
Had Oliver and ‘Rosie’ not incurred the 1.2 time penalties out on the cross country course yesterday, the final standings might have looked entirely different, but it was Ros Canter’s day to reclaim her 2023 Badminton title on board the incredible Lordships Graffalo – the first horse to win a second Badminton title since the days of Pippa Funnell and Supreme Rock over 20 years ago (who won back to back titles in 2002 and 2003) and the first horse to ever regain a title with a break between wins.
Ros and the 13-year-old ‘Walter’ gave the crowds a foot perfect clear round, stopping the clock milliseconds under the time allowed to finish on their dressage score of 25.3. “he’s just the most amazing horse, he just loves it in there [the arena],” she said of the British-bred Sports Horse, “it’s not just what he gives on this stage, he’s just fantastic. He licks you to death like a puppy in the stable! He’s full of self importance but at the same time he’s just completely loveable and I love him to bits.”
Ros’ trainer Caroline Moore sadly lost her battle to cancer earlier this year, and Ros dedicated her win to her close friend, whom she ran the London Marathon for just two weeks ago, “it’s been a long old day without Caroline as she was always keeping me busy, so I was sat by myself a lot overthinking my life choices about trying to be an event rider. Me winning, she just loved it so much, so I hope she’s looking down with a smile on her face.”
And so we see the completion of another eventful Mars Badminton Horse Trials, and look ahead to an Autumn season of excitement. but for now, I shall mourn the fact I have to wait another 51 weeks until my favourite weekend of the year once more.
