Eleven years after his first win here on Tamarillo, William Fox-Pitt claimed his second Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials title by producing a stunning clear round on the stallion Chilli Morning.
Leaders
Fox-Pitt’s old adversary Andrew Nicholson had led here from day one, and he was well on track to claiming his first ever Badminton title.
But while the cross-country didn’t cause much shake up in the leaderboard, the showjumping phase was costly for many. There had only been five clear rounds before the top ten riders jumped; and two of those clears had incurred time faults.
Ireland’s Michael Ryan (Ballylynch Adventure) and Britain’s Nicola Wilson (One Two Many) both added to the tally of clears to shoot up the leaderboard, while Mark Todd, ninth after cross-country, rode a lovely round on Leonidas II, picking up just one time penalty.
Jock Paget and Clifton Lush hit one fence to put them above Mark, before the final four took their turns.
Pressure
Germany’s Ingrid Klimke then delivered an immaculate round on Horseware Hale Bob, giving the leaders absolutely no margin for error.
But Oliver Townend’s chances were dashed when Armada, never the most reliable in the final phase, knocked down four fences to drop them out of the top 10.
William and Andrew both had to jump clear to prevent Ingrid becoming the first female winner of Badminton since 2007. William Fox-Pitt duly produced a foot-perfect round on Chilli Morning, skipping over the 16 jumping efforts to the delight of the crowd. The pressure was on Andrew.
Faults
But Andrew’s ride Nereo, like his full brother Armada, couldn’t deliver the clear round his rider needed in order to win the coveted Mitsubishi Motors trophy. The pair went through the top of the second fence and another two poles fell, relegating them from first to sixth and handing the title to William.
Andrew and William are long-term rivals, and in recent years have dominated proceedings at the top end of the sport, especially at Burghley, with Andrew netted five wins and William six.
But Nicholson is yet to win Badminton, while William hadn’t won since 2004. “It has been quite a long time since I won with Tamarillo, it makes you realise how hard it is and how many things have to go right,” William added. “When you have someone like Andrew Nicholson ahead of you going into the showjumping, you can think it’s all over.”
Stallion
Chilli Morning, who is owned by Christopher Stone, is the first stallion to win at Badminton. The horse was originally produced by Nick Gauntlett, before Mary King took on the ride.
“Mary was jumping Chilli during a training session with Yogi, she turned to me and said, ‘just have a go on him, he’s such a big horse for me’. How lucky I’ve been,” explained William. “Nick did a brilliant job of producing him.”
The plan is for the stallion to have a holiday from competition for the rest of the year, before potentially returning next spring with the Olympics in mind. “He’s 15, he’s proved himself on every angle. He’s got a good chance of selection for Rio if he holds his form. The plan would be to bring him out next year and see if we’re both still good enough.”
William, 46, now becomes the live contender for the coveted Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing. “I’ve got lovely horses to ride and that’s why I am still here and still loving the sport,” he said.
Results
1, William Fox-Pitt (GBR), Chilli Morning (39.0)
2, Ingrid Klimke (GER), Horseware Hale Bob (40.2)
3, Jock Paget (NZL), Clifton Lush (44.8)
4, Mark Todd (NZL), Leonidas II (48.0)
5, Bettina Hoy (GER), Designer 10 (48.4)
6, Andrew Nicholson (NZL), Nereo (49.8)
7, Nicola Wilson (GBR), One Two Many (51.0)
8, Aoife Clark (IRL), Vaguely North (51.7)
9, Michael Ryan (IRL), Ballylynch Adventure (53.3)
10, Sam Griffiths (AUS), Paulank Brockagh (53.8)