Price toasts feisty mare
children by four fathers,’’ Price wrote.
‘‘Molly is a legend but a kind of rock and roll one like Mick Jagger as opposed to the Princess type!’’
Price, nee Richards, grew up near the beach in Motueka at the top of the South Island and caught the riding bug at Moutere Pony Club.
After gaining a law degree at Canterbury University, Price continued to ride and shifted to the UK with her future husband in 2005.
She won Olympic bronze as different part of the New Zealand team at London in 2012, which also included Nicholson, Paget, Todd and Caroline Powell, and her partnership with Classic Moet gained pace as the pair were third at Burghley in 2016.
At the weekend they were 22nd after the dressage then bolted up to the top of the leaderboard after a superb crosscountry round.
In a tense showjumping finale, Briton Oliver Townend had to settle for second and fifth aboard his two mounts, while Ros Canter lowered one rail on Allstar B to finish third.
Price and ‘Molly’ rattled some rails but went clear, four seconds inside the optimum time to clinch victory.
She was the first woman in 11 years to win at Badminton.
‘‘Last night I told myself it was going to take a clear round to win, there’s some very good horses behind me,’’ she said.
‘‘Classic Moet is a good jumper, she tries, but is a bit unorthodox in her style. It doesn’t come easy to her. Just like everything else she does, she tries her heart out.’’
It warranted a celebration, maybe with something resembling the name of her horse.
But, such is life of a busy equestrian in the UK, there wasn’t much time for a big night toasting Price’s biggest individual success.
‘‘I’ll probably go back and pack up and think about the eight horses I’ve got to ride at Aston on Wednesday and Thursday,’’ she said.
Todd was sixth and 14th aboard Kiltubrid Rhapsody and Leonidas II, while Tim Price rode Ringwood Sky Boy into 12th.