Badminton, England—May 6

 As cross-country begins tomorrow at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton CCI****, Michael Jung will leave the start box on La Biosthetique Sam FBW in a position familiar to him—in first. No one could top him on the second day of dressage here today, but one rider came close, and that’s Great Britain’s Emily King. King’s here with Brookleigh riding at her first Badminton, and she scored 36.8 penalties to Jung’s 34.4. 

But King isn’t just any Badminton first timer. She’s the daughter of British eventing legend Mary King, and she finished fourth at least year’s Pau CCI**** (France). 

“I’m absolutely over the moon. I came here, and I wanted to do really well,” said Emily, 20. “I’m a very competitive person and obviously super lucky to be here, but since we went to Pau and had a good result, I knew he’s capable of doing well. So I came here to do as well as I can.” 

This was Brookleigh’s first time in such a large atmosphere. 

“He was really good. He warmed up well and kept that into the arena,” she said. “He kept his cool very well and was very rideable.” 

And with this phase complete, everyone’s just focusing on what’s next.

“We had very good dressage,” said Jung. “But now we concentrate on the cross-country.” 

King added that she likes the feel of Giuseppe della Chiesa’s track, which will run about 12 minutes if riders make it inside the time. 

“It’s a nice big, bold, attacking course but still with a lot of questions and accuracy questions,” she said. “I like how it’s a little bit reverted back to an old-fashioned course—big and bold and not too modern and twisty. I think my horse responds well to that kind of track.”

Chris Burton and Nobilis 18 slipped into the top five today. Photo by Lisa Slade.

As for the two U.S. riders who competed today, Buck Davidson sits 21st on The Apprentice (45.7), and Boyd Martin is tied for 49th on Crackerjack (51.0). 

“I was quite happy with him,” said Davidson of “Dirk.” “He’s not traditionally a very good shipper, and he’s not a horse you can grind away on. It was a little bit touch-and-go feeling out in the warm-up process, but when it’s time to go he really stepped up. There’s certainly improvement in there, but I’m very proud of him to go in there and do what he did.”

This is Dirk’s second four-star—he completed the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** last year—but he’s done numerous CCI***s in his career so far. 

“He has a great canter and a very good mind,” said Davidson of the gelding Sherrie Martin owns. “I think he may be a little bit short of a gallop, but he tries, and we’ll see how we get on tomorrow. He’s been a funny horse, and show jumping has been a very big project, but he’s starting to grow up.”

Martin brought Crackerjack over this spring since he already had three horses entered at Rolex and five four-star horses in his string. (He had to scratch Master Frisky from this event because of cellulitis before shipping over.)

“It’s always been his owner Lucy Boynton’s dream to have a horse she bred come to Badminton,” he said. “I was sort of trying to figure out which one would be best for his. I think Crackers is a bit off the pace in the dressage, but he’s the sort of horse who’d be brave enough to jump around this kind of course.”

Despite having finished the other five four-stars in the world, this is Martin’s first time at Badminton. 

Boyd Martin and Crackerjack. Photo by Lisa Slade.

“I suppose this is the most prestigious,” he said. “I never got around to doing it because it was the week after Rolex, but this year when I had too many horses it was a good excuse to come over and give it a try. I was thinking about it today. I’ve been riding four-stars for 16 years, and I’ve had many ups and downs, and when I think about where I came from in Australia, it’s fantastic to be here at Badminton.” 

See full results from the dressage here at Badminton and a course map of tomorrow’s track. The first horse sets out on course at 11:30 a.m. local time.