Equestrianism: King leads British charge
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Cross-country day at the Burghley Pedigree Chum Open European Championships proved a thrilling contest, with the British team making a brilliant comeback to take the lead with three of the four riders clear and inside the optimum time.
This proved a remarkable achievement, unmatched by any other team, over a course which fully tested the abilities of the best in the world. New Zealand are in second place, despite single refusals from Andrew Nicholson on Dawdle and Sally Clark with Squirrell Hill, while Olympic champions Australia are lying third before today's showjumping finale.
Mary King set the standards for Britain, riding her last year's Burghley winner Star Appeal, and their round was everything we could hope to see, both horse and rider clearly confident of each other. The horse, jumping clean and boldly, happily obeyed a well-laid plan, never questioning. His powerful, rhythmic stride was deceptive as they finished inside 11 minutes 28 seconds without appearing to hurry. King expressed relief afterwards: "I never realised how much the pressure had built up until I'd finished."
It was soon obvious that this was a true championship course, with even Mark Todd, leading the individual competition on Broadcast News, opting for some of the longer but safer alternative routes. Their speed and economy of effort made the difference as they added nothing to their 44.2 dressage penalties.
Bettina Overesch-Boker of Germany is a mere 0.4 behind Todd in second. Britain's William Fox-Pitt is a close third less than a mark behind with Cosmopolitan II after a brilliant ride which retrieved British fortunes as Christopher Bartle had an unfortunate fall at fence.
Earlier, Ian Stark was thrilled with the inexperienced Arakai whom, he pronounced "the best I've ridden. He's amazing, green, but so clever and neat."
There was one black spot on the day. The Canadian rider Claire Smith suffered a heavy fall in which she incurred head and spinal injuries and was airlifted to hospital in Nottingham.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments