SOUTH GLOUCESTERSHIRE, England--Tamra Smith on Mai Baum finished ninth at the Badminton Horse Trials, May 5-8, the highest placing of an American at Badminton since 2008, and she was one of only two riders who were not home country Brits to finish in the top 10.
Tamie Smith on Mai Baum (File photo from 2021by Red Bay Stock)Ariel Grald of Vass, N.C., on Leamore Master Plan finished 15th with Phillip Dutton of West Grove,Pa., 24th on Z, Will Faudree of Hoffman, N.C., on Mama's Magic Way was 31st, and Dom Schramm and Emily Hamel, both riding out of Dutton's True Prospect Farm in West Grove, Pa. were 49th and 52nd respectively on Bolytrair B and Black Flag Option.
Smith of Temecula, Calif., scored 25.3 in dressage to put her in fifth place but added 11.2 time faults cross country to drop her to 15th and then was double clear show jumping to finish ninth on 36.5, a placing that should greatly help her win a spot on the U.S. team for the World Championships this summer.
Grald scored 35.4 in dressage, added just eight time faults cross country and .4 time faults show jumping to finish 15th on 43.8, and Dutton scored 33.2 in dressage and added 10.8 time cross country plus two fences down in show jumping to finish on 52 in 26th place,
LAURA COLLETT realized a childhood dream as she won Badminton Horse Trials after a superb performance on London 52.
Collett’s finishing score of 21.4 — she added a mere 0.4 of a show jumping time penalty to her dressage mark — is a record completion score for Badminton.
Runner-up Ros Canter, the only rider to finish on her dressage score, showed she has another world champion in the making with the 10-year-old Lordships Graffalo, while Oliver Townend cemented his world number one position with third and fifth places on Swallow Springs and Ballaghmor Class respectively, each of his greys hitting a fence apiece in show jumping.
It was the first British one-two-three since Pippa Funnell led William Fox-Pitt and Leslie Law 20 years ago in 2002, and Collett said that Pippa’s win on Supreme Rock had been her childhood inspiration.
"I was going round the cross-country on my aunt’s shoulders and I wanted to be Pippa Funnell winning Badminton," she said.
When Collett entered the arena, she had the luxury of a fence in hand over Canter, but the pressure was huge. ‘
"That horse is amazing," she said of her Tokyo Olympic gold medalist. "He jumped his socks off. I couldn’t see a distance anywhere but he just got higher and higher."
Canter was full of praise for her new superstar who was contesting his first five-star.
”Walter’s eyes were on stalks when we arrived but he enjoyed every part of it, especially the prize giving," said Canter of her mount. "He will have learned so much in the last few days."
Piggy March and the gallant 17-year-old mare Vanir Kamira, the 2019 Badminton winners who set the early standard on the cross-country, finished an honourable fourth with just one pole down.
"‘I think that’s the best “Tilly” has ever jumped,"said March. "She left her heart out on the cross country course yesterday, so I was a bit worried today, but shouldn’t have been.’
David Doel, who lives just 20 minutes down the road, had a dream debut, finishing in sixth place on Galileo Nieuwmoed with a double clear, and Kitty King, a member of last year’s winning European championships team, was seventh on Vendredi Biats.
Irishman Austin O’Connor interrupted British domination with eighth place on the spectacular Colarado Blue, and American first-timer Tamra Smith was ninth on Mai Baum.
Britain’s Richard Jones and Alfies Clover rounded up the top 10.
After a gap of three years, support for the event was huge.
One hundred and eighty thousand visitors attended over the four days, and the many trade stands did a roaring trade, delighted to be back.
‘It was everything I could have wished for,’ said Event Director Jane Tuckwell. ‘Lots of happy people, fantastic result."
