Youngest rider on joint-oldest horse joins the dressage leaders at Badminton

Tom Woodward, the youngest rider in the field, has blasted into the lead at Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage, scoring 27.9. Tom, 24, steered his own 18-year-old Low Moor Lucky, to a mistake-free and expressive performance.

The collected canter and halts were highlights in a remarkably consistent test, putting them over a penalty clear of long-time leader Oliver Townend (Ballaghmor Class).

But while a five-star debutant shooting into pole position might have been a shock to many, Tom was secretly bullish about his chances.

“I quietly did expect to do well here, but I didn’t tell anyone,” he admitted. “He did a 25 at Blenheim, and I’ve always known how capable he is, but because we’ve learned together, it’s taken me two years to catch up with his capabilities.

“It’s like going round on train tracks. If you give him the right instructions, he does it and gives an amazing feel.”

Tom is a local rider, who used to visit the event as a child, camping with his family.

“I used to look at the jumps and think ‘how do you ever do that?’. But when I was about 13, I decided I wanted to try to do it. I’ve been incredibly lucky to find a partner like him, he’s just immense. I can’t thank the horse enough. He’s put me on the map and allowed me to make a career of it.”

The horse’s own career was far from prodigious. The son of Luidam was only backed at nine, and did his first British Eventing competition at the end of his 10-year-old season. But the pair have risen up the grades together, from two-star and under-18 championships to the pinnacle of the sport.

“He’s called Lucky because he was given one final chance,” said Tom. “He was bred by a family friend and I’ve now had six horses from them. They’re all feral but come good in the end.”

Not that you’d guess at his feral origins now. Tom refers to Lucky as “Mr Cool” because “nothing fazes him”.

“He’s quite lazy – I never ride him more than once before his test and only for 25 min, but as he was quite wild last night I thought I’d do a bit this morning and he was backwards, I was riding him Pony Club style,” Tom said. “But he loves the crowd and atmosphere, it lifts him. He doesn’t bat an eyelid.”

Badminton horse trials dressage: “This was plan B”

Last year’s Luhmühlen winners Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Hooney D’Arville, representing Belgium, posted 31.7 to sit inside the top 10. The grey mare performed a pleasing test overall in the Badminton Horse Trials dressage, marred by a couple of mistakes, notably in the pirouette and flying changes.

Lara blamed herself for the errors, saying: “I could have done a bit better today, but I don’t think she could have”.

“She’s not a queen of dressage, but she gets better and better,” she said. “It’s just difficult to keep her nerve in the walk. I messed up the pirouettes and the serpentine, which is normally a strong point for her.

“But she tried really hard, despite being so fit, so I’m happy she kept her composure.”

Badminton was actually plan B for this combination, after Lara failed to get funding to go to Kentucky.

“I wanted to go to Kentucky as Derek [di Grazia] builds a bit more like the European way that Hooney’s used to,” she said. “But even you come third there you can’t break even on the transport and I’m not so arrogant to feel I could get that sort of result again.

“Here the course is really big, and Hooney sometimes takes a look so I hope she won’t be too careful and lose confidence along the way.”

France’s Gaspard Maksud was another from this afternoon session to catch the eye, scoring 30.7 on Zaragoza. Gaspard, 32, is making his Badminton debut with the 12-year-old mare, owned by Martin Thurlow and Jane Young.

“I know she can do a bit better, but it’s a big atmosphere,” said Gaspard. “She was focused on the work and it was a mistake-free test. There are just a couple of things we can tune up to make it better.”

End of day one update: Tom Woodward is now lying third, behind Tom McEwen and Emily King.

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