Badminton, Great Britain—May 7

It’s almost like Michael Jung rode a different course than the rest of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI**** competitors. 

While others were running into problems—or at the very least having a rough moment or two—Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW skipped around the influential track without jumping or time penalties, making it look like a novice horse trials. 

“Sometimes I added one more extra stride to be safe,” said Jung when asked if everything on his track went according to plan, “but in the end, it all worked really well.” 

Michael Jung and La Biosthetique Sam FBW were perfect once again. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

But “worked really well” wasn’t the theme of the Giuseppe della Chiesa-designed track for many of Jung’s fellow riders, as only 48 of the original 75 starters finished the course, with 11 of those finishing inside the optimum time of 11:58. But it was a safe day of cross-country, with no reported rider or horse injuries for the day. 

Germany’s Jung held the lead (34.4 penalties) at the start of today, but with a narrow margin of about 2 penalties. By the day’s end, thanks to time or jumping penalties from his closest competitors, he’s now two rails away from second-placed fellow German Andreas Ostholt on So Is Et. 

“I know Sam from many years and maybe tough competitions, and it’s a very experienced horse now,” said Jung. “He always trusts me and listens to me. It was very, very nice to ride him today. It was very easy, and he gave me a very good feeling.”

The 20-year-old Emily King, who started the day in second with Brookleigh, was having a quick and clear round until the pair fell at the penultimate fence, 32ab, the Rolex Crossing. 

Ostholt had a near miss with So Is Et, but in the end he added only 5.2 time penalties to move up from third after dressage to sit second behind Jung. 

Germany’s Andreas Ostholt will show jump in third on So Is Et.

“I had a hairy moment at the Vicarage Vee,” Ostholt said. “I was barely sitting on top and saying, ‘No, no! Not today, not today.’ Luckily, I managed it. I’m getting older but luckily not too old to stay on the horse. I tried to be not too quick in the beginning or middle part of the course. I started to rush him a little bit after 29, and I was really happy with how he reacted and how fresh he came into the finish.” 

Great Britain’s Gemma Tattersall had a huge jump up the leaderboard on Arctic Soul; from 16th to third with a double-clear round.

“He’s a full Thoroughbred horse and a complete machine,” said Tattersall. “He went out the startbox like a compete shotgun. Luckily I managed to slow him down on the longer stretches. He has the most incredibly stride and stamina. He jumped that second to last, and I asked him to gallop, and he just flew up the hill. He’s full of himself and really thrilled with himself now.”

Gemma Tattersall and Arctic Soul made a huge climb up the leaderboard on the strength of their double-clear trip. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

As if having the Badminton win—which would be Jung’s first—on the line tomorrow isn’t enough, he’s also attempting to take the Rolex Grand Slam after winning Rolex Kentucky last week and the Land Rover Burghley CCI**** (Great Britain) last fall. 

“We enjoy the moment, and we’ll have a little fun this evening, and then I hope we’ll be lucky enough tomorrow,” he said. 

The Vicarage Vee (fence 21) was most influential today, with four horses falling (Cracker Jack, Tom Crisp’s Coolys Luxury, Michael Owen’s Bradeley Law and Lucy Jackson’s Bosun), and then three additional riders (Tim Price on Ringwood Skyboy, Dani Evans on Raphael II and Jodie Amos on Figaro van het Broekxhof) also falling off there. Then there were six additional pairs who picked up at least one refusal there. 

Aside from the Vicarage Vee, the problems were spread out around track. 

Two horses (Brookleigh and Jeanette Brakwell’s Let’s Dance) fell at the second-to-last Rolex Crossing. Valentino V, ridden by Sarah Bullimore, fell after activating the frangible pin at fence 16, the PHEV oxer. Borough Pennyz fell at fence 9, the Jack Willis Garden. 

Libby Head The Sole U.S. Finisher

She’s the youngest of the U.S. competitors here, and she’s on the oldest horse in the competition, but Libby Head managed to finish on Sir Rockstar when her older compatriots faltered. 

Libby Head and Sir Rockstar were rockstars indeed over the testing Badminton track. Photo by Lisa Slade. 

Head and “Rocky,” 18, galloped home with 27.6 penalties to make a huge leap up the leaderboard from 73rd after dressage to 33rd. 

“I just can’t believe it. He’s so awesome. I’m so glad he did it,” she said. “I think [the course] was doable, and there was a lot of—if something didn’t go right, you really had options to fix it. You had to stay on your toes the whole time.” 

Boyd Martin fell with Crackerjack at the Vicarage Vee, fence 21, and both walked away. Martin is thinking about leaving the gelding overseas to contest the Luhmühlen CCI**** (Germany) in about a month. 

“Crackerjack was giving me a fantastic round at Badminton today,” said Martin. “I felt like he was jumping well, and we were 2/3 of the way around, and everything was going to plan, and he felt plenty fresh. We came around the corner to the Vicarage Vee, and I just got him there completely wrong. We were on a half-stride and he’d have had to either take off long, to one of the most intimidating fences in the world, or do what I did: I gave him a pull and tried to add a chip, and we can came crashing down. Luckily Crackers is unscathed, and we’ll live to fight another day.

“To be quite honest, it’s a bitter pill to swallow when you go overseas to compete and come up short,” he added. “Today that’s what happened, and it stings.”

Buck Davidson retired The Apprentice shortly after one stop at fence 23. 

See detailed cross-country results on the Badminton website. The first group show jumps at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, and then the top 20 jump at 1:30 p.m. local time.