Lordships Graffalo makes Badminton history by regaining his title

Ros Canter has claimed the Mars Badminton Horse Trials trophy with Lordships Graffalo, who at the age of 13 is already deserving of the title “all time great”, for the second time. From fourth in the Badminton Horse Trials results after dressage, to second after cross-country, the pair seized victory when the long-time leader Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent lowered one rail to finish second.

Like Kauto Star regaining the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Michele and Archie Saul’s Lordships Graffalo (Walter) has become the first horse in Badminton history to win the title twice, but not back-to-back.

Ros was visibly emotional afterwards.

“This was for Caroline Moore, she was by my side my whole career and passed away a couple of months ago,” she said. “I’m so pleased I managed to make her proud. It’s the first time I’ve done anything without her. Not only was she my trainer and mentor, but also the best friend.”

Just like his immaculate cross-country round, Walter’s clear in the famous arena appeared foot-perfect. Perhaps they took off on a smidgen of a long stride at fence six, but this was a class act confirming their legendary status.

“I’m not sure it was my best round,” said Ros. “I was really nervous. I am so used to having Caroline keeping me occupied, and I was sat by myself quite a bit this morning. It was mind over matter. But I had Nick Turner and Chris Bartle helping me and they filled me with confidence.”

Ros explained how she approached the showjumping, after Kelvin Bywater’s track yielded just two clears inside the time in the morning session.

“I re-walked the course at lunchtime and made sure I had a clear plan of where I wanted to go,” she said. “I went straight down to let Walter have a look around.

“Some in the morning session, when the bell went they hadn’t had a chance to go up the gears, so I made sure I got down quickly to give me time to get the gears going. Walter would sit pretty in a fairly average canter if I let him!”

Ros admitted she couldn’t watch Oliver’s round.

“I didn’t want to wish bad on anyone else,” she said. “I would have been quite happy with second and this win is the icing on the cake. Oliver is a fantastic performer, and his horse will definitely have her day here.

“Weeks like this are always rollercoasters, and I am quite pleased it’s finished – though maybe I could do it all again now,” she smiled.

“I am just so lucky to have Walter – he’s a cool customer, a bit of a pet who likes to lick and chew and play games. I am forever grateful to Michele and Archie for buying him, and Pennie [Wallace] for breeding him.”

How the Badminton Horse Trials results played out

Although the minor placings were very tight, there was more room for manoeuvre at the top. Oliver had nothing in hand over Ros, but these two had a couple of rails to spare over third-placed Gemma Stevens. When Gemma and Chilli Knight had a very uncharacteristic five fences down, there was still Austin O’Connor in striking distance thanks to his clear round, a whisker outside the time on Colorado Blue. They finished third.

By the afternoon session, only two riders had jumped clear inside the time. But Harry Meade set the target for the top 20. Jumping out of order because he was riding two horses, he put in a beautiful fault-free clear on his Burghley third Cavalier Crystal – for eventual fourth.

He had less luck on Superstition, who was looking fantastic until a miscommunication saw them plough through fence 10, but they regrouped incredibly well to finish with two down. They slipped one place to sixth.

One of the favourites for the title at the start of the week, Tom McEwen produced a copybook clear, on JL Dublin, leaving us all to wonder quite how close he might have come had he not activated a frangible across-country to add 11 penalties to his second-placed dressage. They moved up from 14th to finish ninth on 44.2.

Badminton Horse Trials results: top 10

1. Ros Canter (Lordships Graffalo) 25.3
2. Oliver Townend (Cooley Rosalent) 26.3
3. Austin O’Connor (Colorado Blue) 31.2
4. Harry Meade (Cavalier Crystal) 33.8
5. Emily King (Valmy Biats) 38.5
6. Harry Meade (Superstition) 39.8
7. Christoph Wahler (D’Accord FRH) 40.2
8. Bubby Upton (Cola) 44.2
9. Tom McEwen (JL Dublin) 44.2
10. Tim Price (Vitali) 46.2

How to watch Badminton Horse Trials

If you want to watch the live action from Badminton Horse Trials from the comfort of your home, wherever you are in the world, you will need to subscribe to Badminton TV. This year, Badminton TV has teamed up with ClipMyHorse.TV, but you do not need a full ClipMyHorse.TV subscription to watch Badminton – you can just subscribe to Badminton TV for £21.99. Go to clipmyhorse.tv/en_GB/badminton to subscribe or to activate your account as an existing Badminton TV subscriber. If you are already a ClipMyHorse.TV premium member, Badminton TV is included in your subscription. As part of Badminton TV, you can enjoy the documentary programme Legends and Legacy, a fly-on-the-wall insight into the 2024 event and preview of 2025.

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