Bragg soars to new heights
Alex Bragg lands his first CIC3* victory with a personal best dressage score in France
ALEX BRAGG’S pillar-to-post victory in the Event Rider Masters (ERM) class at Jardy netted him his most significant win to date, and his first at CIC3* level.
Riding Sally Ellicott’s Perion 13-year-old Zagreb, whom Alex has produced all the way through the grades, Alex scored a personal best of 23.6 to lead the dressage. The pair produced a rather speedy showjumping clear and followed up on the cross-country, coming home very comfortably 8sec under the time.
“I was riding like a demon out there — I really wanted it,” said Alex. “Winning is really difficult, especially in that calibre of field.
He continued: “The spring didn’t really go our way; Zagreb wasn’t 100% in himself and had time off leading up to Badminton. Afterwards, we had to regroup and get him feeling well — which he is.
“When he feels good in his body, he is so athletic, and he’s agile and very genuine. He’s not strong, so I don’t have to set up too soon before the fences and can keep coming in a nice rhythm. He went round the cross-country in a really efficient manner without wasting time.”
The pair will aim for Burghley. New Zealand’s Tim Price and Wesko took second place, finishing on their dressage score of 25.2. Wesko, who won the CCI4* at Luhmühlen in 2014 and finished second and third at Kentucky and Pau the following year, has had two years off after an injury and Tim’s delight in having this lovely horse back was palpable.
“Going into the start box, you do wonder how it is going to be, but it all came flooding back — he had a great time and so did I,” said
‘I was riding like a demon out
there — I really wanted it’
Tim. “It’s so much fun on an old friend like that.”
Izzy Taylor and Chris Burton both made tiny errors of course on the cross-country, going the wrong side of the string after a gateway. They quickly corrected themselves, but while Chris and Cooley Lands still managed the fastest time of the class — 5min 59sec round a 6min 8sec track — Izzy’s 2sec over the time and subsequent 0.8 time-faults pushed her from second to third on Be Touchable, her Bramham CIC3* winner.
“That was a very expensive two seconds and I’m ruing that, but I’m delighted with him — he’s phenomenal,” said Izzy. “He’s a fragile horse and we have to manage him very carefully, but when he does come out he is really competitive.”
Izzy and Be Touchable had been third after dressage with 25.1, but rose to second when Karim Florent Laghouag and the Embassy 13-year-old Entebbe De Hus lowered two showjumps. With the scores so tight, Oliver Townend’s single fence down on Cillnabradden Evo dropped him from equal sixth to 10th
(he moved back up to eventual eighth), and Shane Rose and CP Qualified, equal with Oliver on a dressage mark of 26, picked up three time-faults and dropped down two places to eighth (he finished ninth).
“Even Milton had fences
down sometimes,” said Oliver with a smile.
Showjumping clears, however, elevated Gemma Tattersall (Chico Bella P) from eighth to fourth, and Bill Levett (Shannondale Titan), Chris Burton and Maxime Livio (Qalao Des Mers) from 11th, 13th and 14th to fifth, sixth and seventh. They all held their places after cross-country.
When 21st-placed Arnaud Boiteau (Quoriano ENE HN) made the time around Pierre Michelet’s twisting cross-country track, it was clear that the clock wasn’t going to be overly influential. There were eight clears inside the time from the 31 starters. Izzy Taylor and Bill Levett picked up 0.8 of a penalty and Shane Rose collected 3.2 time-faults, but the majority of the top 10 added nothing further to their showjumping scores. Only France’s leading lady, Gwendolen Fer, and Romantic Love tumbled out of the reckoning, tipping up at fence 12, a double of angled brushes at the bottom of a hillock, after a take-off miscommunication.
Chris Burton’s sixth place helped extend his lead on the
ERM series board. Laura Collett (11th on London 52) is in second, with Tim Price third.
DOUBLE PRIZES
ALEX BRAGG’S successful weekend was compounded by finishing third in the other CIC3* section with Dr Sarah Hughes’ Shannondale Percy. The pair were 37th after dressage, but a clear showjumping round and 0.8 of a time-fault across country shot them up the order.
“He’s just stepped up to the level and I thought his test was really good and maybe could have been rewarded better,” said Alex. “He’s a phenomenal jumper and breezed round the showjumping. Across country, coming off the back of Zagreb going at that pace, you naturally get into that [high] gear. I think he has the potential to be a great horse.”
Izzy Taylor was fifth on Perfect Stranger, and Vittoria Panizzon sixth with One Night Love.