‘Wild yesterday, but a bit quiet today’: Oliver Townend sets the early standard at Badminton

Oliver Townend scored 29.3 to take an early lead in the Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage phase on his first ride Ballaghmor Class. Oliver remained upbeat, despite the horse scoring his lowest dressage mark to date at CCI5*.

“It doesn’t matter [what my mark was] as long as the judging is consistent, and there’s plenty on the cross-country to sort us out,” he said.

The fleabitten grey, owned by Karyn Shuter, Angela Hislop and Val Ryan, is at Badminton for the fifth time, and although he was excitable at yesterday’s trot-up, he settled into his test today like the stalwart he is.

“I’m happy with the horse; a couple of things could have been better, but he’s getting quite clever,” Oliver said. “He’s wild at the trot up and wild everywhere else then comes in here and says, ‘I’ve done enough now!’ So he was a little bit lazy, a little bit quiet, but I’m happy enough.”

Ballaghmor Class shifted off the centre line for his first halt – and again at the end, but in between he showed some consistently good work, if not particularly expressive. The highlights were his extended trot and canters, while the flying changes were clean and earned him a smattering of eights. Largely, however, the judges were stuck on sevens.

You can’t help but wonder if the quiet stands on a Thursday morning weren’t in this horse’s favour. Like the trot-up, a bit of atmosphere would probably have helped the 18-year-old show a bit more sparkle.

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Kirsty Chabert, the very first rider in aboard Classic VI, said there’s “no advantage being on Thursday morning, when it’s quiet”. The 16-year-old mare produced some lovely work in between a few spooks at a cameraman to score 33.7.

“The horses tune into any noise, whereas the hustle and bustle of a crowd dulls the noise,” she said. “You hear people opening their breakfast, dropping cups, rather than the general hum of a busy crowd.

“This horse is beautiful on the flat, but it’s purely the spooks I need to worry about,” she said. “But we stayed in the boards, just had some spooky areas. But my aim for this week is still be here on Sunday for the showjumping.”

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