Luhmühlen, Nunney, Catton Park and highlights
Jonelle Price scores back-to-back CCI4* wins, while Laura Collett leads a strong set of top placings for British riders
FOUR-STAR wins are, it seems, like buses. A rider waits years for one — and then another arrives immediately afterwards. That’s the case for New Zealander
Jonelle Price, at least, who iced her Badminton cake with a second CCI4* success just six weeks later at Luhmühlen.
And there was a serious boost to Britain’s World Equestrian Games (WEG) hopes after younger Brits filled the next four places, headed by Laura Collett and her four-star first-timer Mr Bass, owned by Laura, Keith Scott and Nick How.
This time Jonelle was riding the sprite-like Faerie Dianimo, bred by Trisha Rickards, who also owns Jonelle’s Badminton heroine Classic Moet, and owned by Trisha and Jacky Green.
“In January, when I was trying to get back to full fitness [after the birth of her son Otis last summer], if you’d asked me whether I’d be sitting here with two CCI4* wins under my belt, I’d have said you were mad,” said a beaming Jonelle, whose husband Tim won the DHL-sponsored Luhmühlen CCI4* in 2014.
Faerie Dianimo can be a handful and, although her dressage has the potential to be spectacular, she got a little overexuberant in her test and went into sixth on a mark of 27.1. The Dutch pair of Tim Lips and the supple Bayro led with 24.1, half a mark ahead of New Zealand’s Jesse Campbell (Cleveland).
Jonelle and the Dimaggio 13-year-old mare whizzed round Mike Etherington-Smith’s 11min 17sec cross-country track, which was a considerable step up from his debut 2017 course. Jonelle berated herself for her 1.2 timefaults, but said: “She can give me a bit of grief on a daily basis, but she absolutely loves the crosscountry and her athleticism and determination comes to the fore.”
They were second on Saturday evening, but the USA’s Boyd Martin had to withdraw the leader, Shamwari 4, with a tendon injury to his hock before the final trot-up. There was a tense five minutes when Faerie Dianimo was sent to the holding box, but she passed once re-presented. Jonelle therefore went into showjumping in first place — as she did at Badminton — and once again held on to it.
“She’s pint-sized, but in her head she’s 18hh. It’s that attitude that has taken her to the top,” said Jonelle. “It’s as though she knew today was really important; she dug very deep for me.”
Faerie Dianimo’s clear was less chancy than Classic Moet’s at Badminton, and one would imagine that, for WEG, where the three-star cross-country track is likely to be nearer 10 minutes in length than 12, the sparkle and expression of the grey mare would get the nod over the black mare’s relentless, gritty stamina.
“Luckily that’s the selectors’ job, not mine,” Jonelle said.
A GREAT DEBUT
MR BASS, second by 1.6 marks, was the only horse to finish on his dressage score (29.9). He
and Laura were faultless in the jumping phases, and the 10-yearold showed his greenness at the highest level only in the dressage. If he had not dropped into trot when asked to stretch forward and down during the canter circle, he would probably have won.
“What’s so exciting is that we are nowhere near what he can be,” said Laura. “He made the cross-country feel like a Pony Club event. I’m very lucky, because fourstar shouldn’t feel that easy. And he doesn’t feel like he did anything yesterday [on cross-country day] — he’s so feisty and fresh.
“The showjumping was huge, but I kept reminding myself that there wasn’t another horse I would be rather sat on.”
Ros Canter replicated her third place at Badminton, this time with “family pet” Zenshera. Equal sixth after dressage with Jonelle, Ros added 2.8 cross-country timefaults and showjumped clear on the Guidam 14-year-old.
“I bought him when I went on work experience in Holland — he was the horse I had ridden all week,” Ros explained. “He wasn’t expensive and I thought he would be one to sell after we’d done a few BE100s. He was the first horse I went advanced and three-star on and is very special to us.
“He is a glass-full person — he thoroughly enjoys his life and is nice to people and horses, which makes him lovely to have around.”
Kitty King also showjumped clear on Jacqueline Owen, Diana Bown and Samantha Wilson’s Ceylor LAN for fourth place. The handsome Dutch-bred 11-year-old had a year off with injury and this was his first CCI run since the Rio Olympics in 2016.
“He’s always been an amazing showjumper — it would be his favourite phase and what he was bred for,” Kitty said. “He did get a little bit tired at the end of the cross-country [they collected 4.8 time-faults] but this will have brought his fitness on so much and it is fantastic to have him back and performing so well.”
Willa Newton completed the British female quartet with fifth on Peter Thomas and Feena Machin’s Chance Remark. They tipped one showjump, but she was another to put in a personal best at CCI4* level.
“He can fight for his head across country, but I have been riding him in a Waterford since Houghton and I was definitely braver here about trusting him and sitting quietly,” said Willa.
Slightly further down the order, four-star perennials Harry Dzenis and the veteran Xam punched out a sixth CCI4*
completion in 13th place. The highlight of their performance was a fast and confident crosscountry clear for 2.8 time-faults.
BRITISH DOWNSIDE
IT wasn’t entirely high-fives in the British camp, though. Both Nicola Wilson (Bulana) and Pippa Funnell (fourth after dressage on Billy Beware) retired on the cross-country after run-outs, as did Franky Reid-Warrilow and Dolley Whisper. Tina Cook withdrew Billy The Red and Star Witness before that phase after disappointing dressage tests.
Piggy French had to suffer the indignation of a scoresheet that didn’t reflect her performance on Quarrycrest Echo. They were awarded 50 penalties for jumping outside a flag at 11b, the first of two tightly angled hedges after a drop on the edge of the woods. The pair flew round the track and finished full of running to make the time, and then were footperfect in the showjumping.
SUCCESS FOR IRELAND
IRISH riders Sam Watson and Cathal Daniels finished sixth and seventh on Ardagh Highlight and Rioghan Rua. Both were clear and inside the time across country — Cathal was initially awarded 50 penalties for missing a flag at the brush arrowhead in the main Messmer Teich water complex but successfully appealed — and both lowered two showjumps.
“There are lots of little things to keep improving, but Ardagh Highlight was at CIC* level less than two years ago,” said Sam. “I bought him over the phone as an eight-year-old, sold him at nine to Belinda Keir, who still owns him, as a junior horse for her daughter Annie, and he came back to me to compete two years ago.
“He’s very intelligent, spooky and always alert, which can make things difficult in the arena, but that was one of the best crosscountry rounds I have ever had.”
Liz Halliday-Sharp, eighth for the USA on 10-year-old Deniro Z, and Italy’s Vittoria Panizzon, ninth on Chequers Play The Game, also secured good results on four-star debutants.
Mike Etherington-Smith’s vamped-up course was a true four-star test, which may have surprised some riders. It demanded absolute concentration and jumped well when ridden with confidence, accuracy and intelligence. Luhmühlen had had no rain for three months and off the course the grass was tinderdry and crispy, but enormous efforts in verti-draining, sanding and watering meant the footing was as good as it could have been.
Sadly Axel Z, ridden by Belgium’s Chloe Raty, was put down after suffering spinal
injuries in a fall at 18b, rails following a step up out of water.
The man most ruing what might have been was Tim Lips. He was another to post 50 penalties for jumping outside a flag — this time at 23c, the third part of a corner-table-corner turning question in the main arena and, with the leading dressage score, just 0.8 of a time-fault and a clear showjumping round, he could have pulled off a first CCI4* win if luck had gone his way.
But top sport is about not making mistakes, and Jonelle Price created a piece of eventing history by becoming the first person to win the Badminton and Luhmühlen CCI4*s in the same year.