WILTSHIRE-based New Zealand rider Jonelle Price won the 2018 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials last Sunday, and in doing so thwarted Oliver Townend’s quest to capture the Rolex Grand Slam of eventing for three consecutive four-star victories.

Townend, already a victor at Burghley and Kentucky, looked to have more than a sporting chance of scooping the Rolex $350,000 prize fund, being double-handed in the show jumping.

But, while his fifth-placed Irish-bred Cooley SRS jumped the coloured poles cleanly to rise to second, the Irish Sport Horse Ballaghmor Class, the first-phase leader and placed second after the cross-country, dislodged two rails, handing a one-fence cushion to Price.

Tricia Rickard’s 15-year-old black mare Classic Moet and her Kiwi jockey, who had a baby just eight months ago, made no errors to bag the most coveted prize in the sport and become the first female winners in 11 years.

TOWNEND INCIDENT

Immediately after his second cross-country round, Townend had been summoned to meet the Ground Jury, who gave him a warning regarding his over use of the whip on both horses and then announced, via a statement, that the horses would be checked very carefully on Sunday morning for the horse inspection.

Cooley SRS was subsequently sent to the holding box, but passed on reinspection, and Townend later said: “I can win prettily or I can win ugly.”

Afterwards, with the social media machine working overtime, the rider issued apologies, one of which read: “Having watched my cross-country rounds … it didn’t look good and I don’t want to look like that.”

Away from this maelstrom, second best British rider Ros Canter put up a solid performance to snatch third place aboard Allstar B.

Padraig McCarthy and Mr Chunky, who have contested only 11 events together in their two-year partnership, were best of an eight-strong Irish contingent in eighth.

“I’ve been imagining riding here all year,” said McCarthy, who is married to British event rider Lucy (née Wiegersma), from whom he took over the 13-year-old gelding by Jumbo.

“I dreamed of finishing on my dressage score, and while I haven’t done that, the horse has done an incredible job of jumping a double clear.”

Adding only time faults to a dressage score of 28.9, McCarthy finished five slots ahead of Joseph Murphy aboard the seasoned 17-year-old Sportsfield Othello.

This pair dislodged two show jumps on the final day, but bizarrely found themselves elevated two places due to their nearest rivals notching up cricket scores.

“I take responsibility for those rails,” said Murphy. “He’s done a great job this weekend. He felt better than I expected today.”

The Gloucestershire park had endured weeks of heavy rain in the lead up to the event and then sweltered in unseasonably hot conditions during the competition, which ‘baked’ the ground on the surface and made it holding underneath, turning both jumping phases into serious energy-sapping tests.

TOUGH TEST

Many stars of the sport fell victim to Eric Winter’s imposing and technical 32-fence cross-country course, with the likes of Pippa Funnell, William Fox-Pitt and Piggy French failing to cross the finish line.

Three Irish riders formed part of the lengthy list of eliminations. Jonty Evans and Cooley Rorkes Drift, fourth after a stunning dressage display, ended up straddled over the oxer at the exit of the troublesome Eclipse Cross Pond (fence 18).

The bay gelding was unhurt in the incident, but he had earlier rubbed his stifles on the silver birch entrance rail, knocking his jockey off balance, meaning that the imposing oxer on the other side of the water proved a fence too far.

James O’Haire, who runs a training and schooling business in Co Kildare, crashed out in spectacular fashion after his mare, China Doll, left a leg on the giant tree stump into the event’s iconic Lake. They ended up bruised, but otherwise unhurt.

Clare Abbott, enjoying her best Badminton ride to date and up on the clock, ended up on the turf when Euro Prince ballooned the Crooked S Bullfinch (fence 28) and crumpled on landing.

Ciaran Glynn withdrew his first horse, Killossery Jupiter Rising, on cross-country morning because the bay gelding was feeling off colour, but Glynn went on to finish 25th with the mare November Night.

Left wondering if he had done enough to secure a ticket to the World Equestrian Games, Glynn said: “I had aspirations of finishing higher, but it was a solid performance and you have to play the week as it comes.”

Amateur Alan Nolan held his own among a sea of professionals to occupy 52nd place with Bronze Flight, who at 19 was the oldest horse in the field.

“I came here intending to finish and that’s what we’ve done — we’ve ticked it off our bucket list,” said the sales manager with Gain Equine Nutrition, adding: “I’m going to live on the adrenaline for a while.”

Sally Corscadden, senior High Performance Director, will now watch other Irish WEG contenders at Luhmuhlen before naming her squad during the second week of July.

“There were some strong performances this weekend and we got good dressage marks across a broader number of riders,” she said. “With the new dressage scoring system [the co-efficient has been dropped to lessen the influence of the first phase], the attitude now must be that we have to go out there and go for it. It really opens it up and the true cross-country horse will have the edge.”

Irish Sport Horses continued to show they are the best in the world – filling four of the top six places including runner-up Cooley SRS (ISH), bred in Wexford by John Fitzhenry. The winner, Classic Moet, was produced for two seasons by Karen Dixon who now lives in Northern Ireland.

Alexander Bragg’s horse Redpath Ransom sadly suffered an irreparable injury to his right fore suspensory ligament while galloping between fences 27 and 28 and was later euthanased.