Townend leads British sweep at Burghley Horse Trials

After four days of Dressage, Cross Country and Show Jumping demonstrating the versatility of the horses and riders in this Olympic discipline, Townend and his 10-year-old mount finished with the lowest overall penalty points, 45.6, with compatriot Piggy French and Vanir Kamira second (46.9), and Gemma Tattersall with Arctic Soul (47.0). The full results are here. (In Eventing, competitors accumulate penalty points in each phase, and at the end of the event, the pair with the lowest score wins). 

After their victory, Townend paid tribute to the performance of his horse: “This is very, very special. Such a lot can go wrong with a young horse – and he’s only just learned to do flying changes – but he’s in a different class to anything else I’ve ridden recently.”

““I came here hoping for a top 10 finish,” added runner-up French. “I’ve not managed to achieve that here before, and have more often eaten the Burghley dirt, so it’s great to be back at this level and up the leader board. Burghley is the toughest four star and it’s always been a dream to do well. What a difference a year makes.”

For his part, Jung retired from the competition with La Biosthetique – Sam FBW but still secured first place in the FEI Classics following a win in Kentucky and second places at Pau and Badminton. “It’s been a brilliant season”, Catrin Norinder, the FEI’s head of the Eventing and Olympic department, told the organization’s media services after the conclusion of the event in England. “All six events have been thrilling and we’ve seen some fantastic performances from athletes and horses who have portrayed our sport in the very best light.”