FEI COMPETITION REPORT
Burghley (GBR), 6 September 2009
Audio link (click on the name to listen to the interview):
Oliver Townend (GBR)
TOWNEND DOES THE DOUBLE AT THE LAND ROVER BURGHLEY HORSE TRIALS
It's rare that Oliver Townend (GBR) is lost for words, but the ever-ebullient Yorkshireman had tears in his eyes as he completed one of Eventing's rarest doubles, show jumping clear on Carousel Quest to win The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR) and extend his lead in the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM to 12 points over William Fox-Pitt (GBR) with just Les Etoiles de Pau CCI**** (FRA) to go.
Townend, 26, won the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials on Flint Curtis in May and is only the sixth rider in history to complete the double within 12 months, following Anneli Drummond Hay (GBR), Lucinda Green (GBR), Ginny Elliot (GBR), Pippa Funnell (GBR) and Lucinda Fredericks (AUS).
"I'm still celebrating from Badminton," said Townend. "It hasn't sunk in yet, but I've got plenty of useful four-star horses and am really looking forward to consolidating for the future."
Polly Stockton (GBR), 6th after Cross-Country, was the only other rider in the top echelons to jump clear, which elevated her to 2nd place on the Irish-bred Westwood Poser, and the mistakes of Sam Griffiths (AUS) eventual 3rd on Happy Times, Phillips Dutton (USA) 4th on Truluck and Clayton Fredericks (AUS), 5th on Poilu, and Caroline Powell (NZL), 8th on Lenamore, gave Townend a two-rail breathing space, which he didn't need.
HSBC FEI ClassicsTM Training Bursary
Kai Rüder (GER), 10th on the stallion Leprince des Bois, who had the best first-time 4-star completion and wins the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM Training Bursary towards training with an accredited trainer.
Red card
Harry Meade (GBR) was awarded a red card and disqualified from the competition for his riding of Dunauger No. 14, who fell at fence 19. Meade was not allowed to ride his second horse, Midnight Dazzler. The Ground Jury, in consultation with the Appeal Committee, awarded the red card under Art 520 of the 2009 Rules of Eventing: "Abuse of Horse and Dangerous Riding", namely ‘riding an exhausted horse' and ‘excessive pressing of a tired horse'.
Paul Donovan (IRL) was given an FEI yellow warning card for failing to stop after incurring 3 refusals on Sportsfield Sandyman.
COMPETITION STATISTICS
49 horses completed
3 withdrawn, including Anna Warnecke's Twinkle Bee (GER), lying 8th
11 Jumping clears (3 with time faults)
No rider finished on their dressage score
QUOTES
Oliver Townend, 1st: "I was nervous in the morning, but by the time I went into the arena, I wasn't really feeling anything at all. I was riding a class horse that I knew if I placed him right he wouldn't boot out four fences, and that's a nice feeling."
Sam Griffiths, 3rd: "I'm really thrilled. To back up Badminton with this means it's no fluke and I'm now excited for the future. I'll be sitting down with the Australian selectors soon to talk about next year."
ABOUT THE WINNER
Oliver Townend, 26, was brought up in Yorkshire, and trained with Paul Donovan (IRL), Kenneth Clawson (GBR) and even rode out racehorses for the Irish trainer Mouse Morris. He recently bought a farm near Ellesmere in Shropshire. He first rode for Britain at the 2005 FEI European Championships on Topping and in 2006 gained the ride on Flint Curtis, finishing 3rd at Badminton and 11th individually at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen (GER). He was 8th at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event on Carousel Quest and won Badminton on Flint Curtis this year. He was a member of Britain's gold medal team at the 2007 FEI European Championships and will be in the team on Flint Curtis at the HSBC FEI European Championship at Fontainebleau (FRA) this month.
Oliver Townend (GBR) and Carousel Quest jumping a clear round to win the fourth leg of the HSBC FEI ClassicsTM at Burghley. Additional photographs are available - for editorial use only - from the FEI Photo Catalogue. © Kit Houghton
RESULTS
1 Oliver Townend/Carousel Quest (GBR) 39.8 + 3.2 + 0 = 43.0
2 Polly Stockton/Westwood Poser (GBR) 48.5 + 3.2 + 0 = 51.7
3 Sam Griffiths/Happy times (AUS) 48.3 + 0 + 4 = 52.3
4 Phillip Dutton/Truluck (USA) 45.3 + 5.2 + 0/4 = 54.5
5 Clayton Fredericks/Poilu (AUS) 51.7 + 0 + 4 = 55.7
6 Paul Tapner/Inonothing (AUS) 51.5 + 6.8 + 0 = 58.3
7 William Fox-Pitt/Seacookie (GBR) 47.5 + 6.8 + 4 = 58.3
8 Caroline Powell/Lenamore (NZL) 45.2 + 5.2 + 8 = 58.4
9 Rosie Thomas/Barry's Best (GBR) 59.7 + 0 + 4 = 63.7
10 Kai Ruder/Leprince des Bois (GER) 46.7 + 13.6 + 4 = 64.3
Full results on www.burghley-horse.co.uk
2009 HSBC FEI CLASSICSTM Standings (after 4 of 5 events):
1 Oliver Townend (GBR) 33 points
2 William Fox-Pitt (GBR) 21
3 Sam Griffiths (AUS) 20
4 Lucinda Fredericks (AUS) 15
5 Michael Jung (GER) 15
6 Bettina Hoy (GER) 12
7 Andreas Dibowski (GER) 12
8 Phillip Dutton (USA) 12
9 Polly Stockton (GBR) 12
10 Lucy Wiegersma (GBR) 11
11 Bruce Davidson Jnr (USA) 10
12 Dirk Schrade (GER) 10
HSBC FEI CLASSICSTM CALENDAR OF EVENTS 2009
1. 22-26 April Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event (USA)
2. 7-10 May Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (GBR)
3. 11-14 June Luhmühlen CCI**** presented by E.ON Avacon Vertrieb (GER)
4. 3-6 September The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR)
5. 21-25 October Les Etoiles de Pau (FRA)
Notes to editors:
The HSBC FEI ClassicsTM, established last year, unites the top end of the international Eventing circuit, namely the five 4-Star Eventing competitions currently on the calendar. The Top Ten placed riders at each event receive points; the five riders with the highest number of points at the end of the season are awarded prize money.
POINTS SYSTEM
Points will be awarded to the Top Ten riders at each event as follows:
Riders can only win points with their best horse/performance at one event and if the combination has obtained a qualifying result. In case of equality of points, the best placed rider is the competitor with the lowest total of penalty points at the specific event (=differentiating score).
1st: 15 points
2nd: 12 points
3rd: 10 points
4th: 8 points
5th: 6 points
6th: 5 points
7th: 4 points
8th: 3 points
9th: 2 points
10th: 1 point
2008 WINNERS
1. William Fox-Pitt (GBR)
2. Nicolas Touzaint (FRA)
3. Frank Ostholt (GER)
4. Phillip Dutton (USA
5. Bettina Hoy (GER)
