CORK’S Austin O’Connor was best of the Irish contingent at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials, finishing in a very respectable 14th place after rolling two poles in the final phase on Sunday afternoon.
Home soil victory went to Paris Olympic team gold medallist Rosalind Canter, who was impeccable throughout the competition with Lordships Graffalo (Burkhof’s Grafenstolz x Rock King), setting the standard with a dressage mark of 22 penalties and adding nothing further other than 1.6 for time to solidify her lead.
Their finishing score of 23.6 is the best in the 63-year history of Defender Burghley and is the climax of a golden 18-month run for Ros with Archie and Michele Saul’s 12-year-old.
O’Connor and his 2023 Maryland five-star winning mount, the Salty Syndicate’s Colorado Blue (Jaguar Mail x Rock Kind), bred by Kate Jarvey, were 37th after dressage on 33.9, but a superb clear across the country on Saturday with just 4.8 added for time saw them jump up the standings to 12th overnight. Only four horses managed to come home clear and inside the time.
O’Connor’s cross-country performance saw him overtake the next best placed Irish rider, Ian Cassells, who was 30th after dressage with Master Point on 32.4 and who also had an impressive first outing over the Burghley hills to finish Saturday in 23rd on 53.4 after breaking the frangible obstacle at fence 5a. His show jumping round did not go to plan and 20 jumping penalties saw him drop down to 29th on a total of 75 penalties.
The third Irish rider to complete all three phases was Susie Berry who finished 30th with five-star first-timer Irene Leva on 75.1, after rolling two rails and adding 26 for time across the country in what was otherwise a clean round.
Berry retired on the cross-country with her other mount, Wellfields Lincoln, as did Declan Cullen and Seavaghan Ash. Unfortunate eliminations befell Padraig McCarthy with Lady Ophelia and Sarah Ennis with Grantstown Jackson.
Speaking to The Irish Field after the show jumping, O’Connor said the round was slightly disappointing, but overall he was happy with Colorado Blue’s performance.“He jumped a good round, he had a couple of rails and that’s disappointing, but it’s not that he’s gone and jumped badly, he jumped well, he was just superb yesterday. At the end of the day, this is eventing, you’ll have that, it’s a bit frustrating, but we’ve had some incredible days too and today it didn’t go our way but he still has a very good five-star event under his belt.
“He’s ready for a good rest, but there is no reason why he won’t come out just as good if not better next year, he’s a superstar.”
Regarding the cross-country, O’Connor was thrilled with how ‘Salty’ performed. “He jumped really well. He tried his heart out. The course rode stronger than what I expected, it was a decent, decent Burghley. The last three minutes ride a bit smaller, but to me that’s almost a hindrance because they get a bit insignificant.
“It’s just so nice to have a Burghley under his belt. It’s a big box ticked for a horse like him. He’s galloping better than ever. It went to plan other than Discovery Valley; I’m not sure why, but we got from A to B and that’s what matters.”
Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo won the Defender Burghley Horse Trials 2024 \ Nigel Goddard
Irish horses
Second and third going into the show jumping were New Zealand’s Tim Price and Great Britain’s Harry Meade and that is how the leaderboard remained by the close of business.
Price could afford one rail to stay in second, but not two, and despite an inconsistent show jumping record with Vitali this year, he closed out with just four jumping penalties to add to finish second on 29.5.
Meade, who rode the highest placed Irish Sport Horse, Cavalier Crystal (Jack Of Diamonds x Cavalier Royale, bred by Thomas Horgan of Co Waterford), was one of only two riders to finish on their dressage scores, his being 31.3.
Meade also guided another Irish-bred horse to a fourth place finish, with Annaghmore Valoner (Coroner x Black Walter), bred in Co Offaly by Sinead Healion, completing on a score of 31.8 and the Jeanette Glynn-bred Capels Hollow Drift (Shannondale Sarco St Ghyvan x Luck Gift) took fifth place with Tom Jackson (GBR) on 34.2.
Frenchman Gaspard Maksud was the best first-timer in sixth on Zaragoza, ahead of his more experienced compatriot Nicolas Touzaint, also a debutant here, seventh on Absolut Gold HDC.
British riders Alexander Bragg (Quindiva), Gemma Stevens (Chilli Knight) and Alice Casburn (Topspin) filled eighth, ninth and 10th places respectively.
Four more Irish-bred horses finished inside the top 20, including Copper Beach (16th), A Class Cooley (17th), Deerpairc Revelry (18th) and Heartbreaker Star Quality (19th).
Proud winner
Despite having huge success on the world stage recently, including a gold European medal and winning Badminton Horse Trials in 2023, as well as a team Olympic gold medal in Paris last month, the significance of the win was not lost on local Lincolnshire girl, Ros Canter.
“I just had a text message from my pony club friends saying ‘I can’t believe you just won the event we used to come to every year together as children’ and that sums it up really,” she said. “We’ve worked toward this for years, but I wasn’t sure I’d ever tick the Burghley box.
“It was just such an amazing opportunity with Paris being so early to also be able to bring Walter (Lordships Graffalo) here. If there was ever an event horse and an event that could match each other this is it - Walter and Burghley.
“I’ve been really lucky to have achieved some great things and I came into the week saying ‘I don’t really need this’, but I really, really wanted it and I just had a good feeling about it all week.
“I tweaked some things at home about how I ride Walter since Paris and I was excited to put them into practice here and show what he could do. It was fantastic to bring a horse here that I had such faith in and to really let rip on the Burghley terrain. I was determined to enjoy it, I sometimes struggle to enjoy top-level competitions, but this week I felt I got the balance right.”
What they said:
Irish first-timer Ian Cassells after completing the Burghley cross-country:
“Even though it was annoying (getting penalties from breaking a frangible fence) it’s very promising for the future how he deals with these situations and has that fifth leg to handle them. It shows what a real five-star horse he is (Master Point).
Six-time Burghley winner William Fox-Pitt on Austin O’Connor’s mount Colorado Blue:
“If you were going to choose a Burghley horse, this would be it!”
Harry Meade (GBR) on his third and fourth placed Irish Horses:
“Cavalier Crystal hopefully cemented that her place last year wasn’t an anomaly. Annaghmore Valoner was my wildcard coming here and for her to pull out that kind of performance was really exciting and hopefully she’s got bigger things in her.”
Burghley 2024 winner Ros Canter:
“I’ve felt confident, felt brave to go out there and be myself. I’ve stuck to my system and not asked everyone else questions. I said to myself, ‘Believe in yourself’ and it’s paid off.”