Eventing, three leaders in three days at Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials 2018

OVERNIGHT leader Tim Price believes he left nothing out on the cross-country course after storming into first place at the 2018 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials.The New Zealand native and Ringwood Sky Boy topped the overall standings after an enthralling day of cross-country action at Burghley House, near Stamford.Price had trailed fellow Kiwi Mark Todd following the dressage, but the five-time champion’s leading horse Kiltubrid Rhapsody was eliminated after a fall.And after finishing just one second over the optimum time on Ringwood Sky Boy, having completed the course on Bango, Price is feeling confident ahead of the competition’s climax.“It’s not always the case, but I felt the first ride helped me a lot just to settle my nerves, calm me for the day and get me out doing something productive,” he said.“The fences are of a dimension the horses can jump and I think that means you have to go out and bring your best game to the table and I feel I did that on both of the horses.“I’m really happy with the one-second time penalty as he’s not a fast horse by his speed and I have to jump the jumps first with him.“He’s sometimes been a bit disorganised in the past and he can have a tendency to do that but I’ve learnt how to ride him and he knows me as well as I know him.“I just wanted to do as good a job as possible and not really think about the clock other than hearing a few beeps in the background coming and I didn’t leave anything out there.“I’m very confident, I’m very happy with the last two days, it’s a journey and what I’ve learnt over the year at these big competitions is you have to treat each day as it comes.”With the dressage and cross-country concluded, Sunday’s final day of action will see the riders tackle the show jumping trials at the prestigious four-star event.And defending champion Townend, who was sitting third after the dressage on MHS Joules, piled the pressure on Price with the final ride of the day on Ballaghmor Class.But having been unable to achieve the optimum time with his first two horses, the 35-year-old admitted he did not know what to expect from last year’s winning gelding.“It’s unbelievable,” said Townend. “I really didn’t know whether he’d go at the speed we needed to go at – I know how tough it was with the first two that I rode around.“He felt like a different horse altogether to last year, last year was pure naivety and me occasionally popping in a seriously big question and him answering.“This year, again, for me, the track didn’t really suit – it didn’t suit many to be honest – you can’t really see it on the television but the terrain is so tough.“I didn’t think I gave him the best of rides there – I thought I was a bit desperate in places and come back across the finish and everyone’s raving about it. I’m a bit bemused.”Last year’s runner-up Piggy French, once again aboard Vanir Kamira, is also breathing down Price’s neck, sitting in third after finishing three seconds over the optimum time.“I don’t think you dare to think it could be your year,” she said. “I think you have to just take each day as it comes and I knew coming here I have a Burghley horse.“It’s nice to have that confidence that she can do it, but it’s another year, it’s another day and such a fine line between it being right and not being good enough.”Elsewhere, Harry Meade sits in fourth with Away Cruising on 31.1, with five-time winner Andrew Nicholson fifth on four-star first-timer Swallow Springs, who was just one of four combinations to finish inside the optimum time. The others were Ireland’s Elizabeth Power, who was 37th after the dressage and is now in seventh on Soladun, and Tina Cook on Star Witness, who leaped from 62nd to 12th.Nicholson is also eighth on his other ride, Jet Set IV, with Richard Jones ninth on Alfies Clover, who put in an immaculate round, with Townend’s MHS King Joules rounding off the top ten ahead of the show jumping. Source: Andy Baber for Sportsbeat & Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials 2018 Photo: Tim Price (NZL) riding RINGWOOD SKY BOY during the cross country phase of the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials in the grounds of Burghley House near Stamford in Lincolnshire in the UK between 29th August and 2nd September 2018 – credits Peter Nixon