William Fox-Pitt Withdraws Only Horse from Badminton
William Fox-Pitt has withdrawn his only ride, Parklane Hawk, from Badminton Horse Trials as the world-class rider feels he’s ran out of time.
Announced on the 21st April, the decision to withdraw the 16-year-old gelding followed a unsuccessful outing at Weston Park earlier in the month which saw the pair fall during the cross country phase. Thankfully, both horse and rider were not hurt during the fall.
Parklane Hawk was Fox-Pitt’s only ride at the CCI**** Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials this year, and would have marked his first four-star event following his fall at the end of last season.
Fox-Pitt announced the news on his website by releasing the following statement “After the disappointment of our performance at Weston Park, I have decided that we have run out of time for Badminton. It is obviously a shame not to be heading back but you have to have the right preparation for a competition like this. Parklane Hawk has got the whole autumn to look forward to”.
A full lorry of Fox-Pitt’s team and horses arrived and competed at Bicton yesterday. Chilli Morning, Oslo and Cool Mountain all enjoyed a good stretch of their legs and achieved some nice results. An exciting prospect, Little Fire, had his first intermediate outing at this event proving to be one to watch for the future. The young horse, owned jointly Mrs Jennifer Dowling and Fox-Pitt, made only a few mistakes during the dressage event, but performed a nice clear round for showjumping and had an amazing cross country.
Although Badminton Horse Trials will be missing one of our greatest British Eventing riders for 2016, there will still plenty of excitement to be had over this four-day, equestrian spectacular.
