Newcomers perform well on Burghley Horse Trial Cross Country Day
All bar two of this year’s freshers made it through the finish flags
Currently Grace Taylor riding Game Changer is one of the favourites. Seventh after dressage, the pair now sits in 16th after adding 17.6 time penalties to their first phase score.
“It took much more out of me physically than I thought it would,” admitted Grace after her round. “Game Changer was awesome and tried his guts out; it's exciting to know that he really is a five-star horse.”
Hard on her heels is fellow US rider, Jennie Saville whose ride, FE Lifestyle, was faster than Game Changer to finish a score of 46.7 and sit in 17th place.
Jennie was genuinely shocked to have jumped clear.
“To me, this is without doubt the hardest five-star in the world, I have never felt the horse having to dig in like he did today,” she said.
Icarus X, the ride of Emma Thomas, also jumped clear adding 21.6 time penalties.
Later today, the show jumping will be the final element of the competition at Burghley.
Over 200,000 people are expected to have attended the event; including Royal Zara Tindall who was spotted during a horse inspection earlier in the week.