Brits on the up, an unusual route pays off and a five-star winner drops out of the running at Burghley

Two British riders, Alice Casburn and Tom McEwen, have bounced up the leaderboard as the Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country continues, while a potential winner has been ruled out of contention.

Caroline Powell was eighth after dressage on her own and the Manns’ Badminton Horse Trials winner Greenacres Special Cavalier, but their bid to do the British five-star double came to an end when they picked up 20 penalties at the first of the Rolex Corners at fence 16ab. Caroline opted to walk home rather than continue. This combination is proving influential, although most people are having problems at the second rather than initial element.

Meanwhile Alice Casburn has put in a super Burghley Horse Trials cross-country round with her mother Caroline’s home-bred Topspin, finishing with 1.6 time-faults to hold fourth at this stage. The 22-year-old is bidding for a third top-10 placing here in a row.

“I definitely can’t fault his enthusiasm today. He absolutely loved every second of it. Normally I have to kick him along. So saying whoa was quite new for me, but he made it happen for me. He absolutely tried his heart out, and I couldn’t be more thrilled,” said Alice.

This pair’s super five-star record had a glitch when Topspin refused at a big log into water at Badminton this spring and Alice pulled up.

“He came out so excited at Badminton, like he was today, and I wasn’t really used to it. We just went back to basics at home. I did a lot showjumping, anything to build confidence.

“I think it’s very difficult, because he’s 16 this year, so I thought, ‘Oh, is this his sign that actually it’s a little bit too much for him?’ And then I thought, ‘No, it’s not. He just got over excited’. So I think it’s a matter of looking at your record and looking at your horse and making sure that actually you’re making decisions not just based on how you feel, but on actual facts.”

British Olympic hero Tom McEwen on the up

Tom McEwen and CHF Cooliser cruised round the track for 10.4 time-penalties, which puts them in seventh out of those who have finished. The British Olympic double gold medallist scooted up the steep left-hand slope to the top of the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit (fence 7abcde), rather than the right-hand one which riders usually take, to save a few seconds and give him some extra control.

“I was walking with Tom Jackson and asked him if it was okay and luckily, he went first there to test out if we were all going to get in trouble,” said Tom McEwen. “I think it was a bit quicker and she’s so brave I have absolutely no control – we’re in Liz’s world, and Liz just sees flags and off she goes. And if I say whoa it just means go even faster. So I went up the steep hill just to bring her back, so then I could actually trot off the step. And you can see how brave she is, just popping up the step and jumping huge.

“She has oodles of scope, oodles of heart. Every time she stepped up a level everyone said that’s her level. But she just kept going and now she is really a true Burghley horse. She got a bit tired on the way home and rather than pushing for the time, I just saved her all the way back. She’s come home really well. She is a delight.”

Impressively, Cosby Green scored her third five-star cross-country clear on her debut at this event, following fault-free Pau and Badminton rounds, when she put in a great performance for just 12.8 time-faults on the 18-year-old schoolmaster Copper Beach.

“He’s got a twinkle in his eye still. He’s such a good old man,” said US rider Cosby, 23, who based in Dorset with Tim and Jonelle Price and said she’s learned from them that less is more with older horses. “He knows what he’s doing, he could do it with his eyes closed, and it’s just being able to have enough confidence in myself to trust that he is trained. It’s all about maintaining and improving in slight little ways, such as with his body fitness and physio.”

The usually strong cross-country horse Grantstown Jackson, piloted by Ireland’s Sarah Ennis, had a run-out at the corner out of Defender Valley on the return trip (fence 8ab). She was then eliminated after further problems at the Trout Hatchery (fence 10 and 11abc); it looked like she had lost her steering.

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