Hot weather at Hartpury for the Championship classes and after the ROR and the novice had been run it was the British Open that took star billing at 12.55pm.
Jonelle was first out and gave a great display on the experienced Grappa Nera (Grape), as befits a 5 star winner. Grape and Jonelle are an assured partnership and they bounded around the track with 9.6 time to give a great account of the pathfinder and to cement their Burghley pre run in immaculate form.
Tim followed with Viscount Viktor who looked to have capitalised on his Luhmuhlen 5 star run to gain experience and confidence and to look more than ready for Burghley. It’s quite incredible that he heads to Burghley at 10 years old with Pau and Luhmuhlen already under his belt but he so deserves it as his performance today smacked of a horse at least a couple of years older. He added 15 time to finish in 15th but he showed his class with a round that belied his age for sure.
Jonelle and Senor Crocodillo (Diego) headed out mid field and this was a track that, as Jonelle said, exposed their weaknesses with downhill steep curving combinations aplenty. She was absolutely delighted that she and Diego are firmly on the right page as they effortlessly negotiated all the combinations to come home clear and with 10 time for eventual 10th place. For Jonelle and Diego, this was all about prepping for the autumn campaign so she couldn’t have been happier with him and was delighted with the way he has come through this weekend.
Tim and Coup de Coeur Dudevin (Joker) followed Jonelle on track and if Tim needed a reminder that Joker is a brilliant, strong, opinionated superstar then Joker handed it to him in spades. Clearly furious that he didn’t get to go to Paris, Joker played the Wild Child today ( or War Child for those who treasure the classic Point Break movie) and he gave it to Tim in glorious technicolour. Tim anchored him into fence 5 A B which was a double of planks over a gaping ditch times 2 and Joker went green and gawped into both the the ditches leaving Tim no option but to flap and kick for the B. Joker then turned into the 5 star winner he is and was exemplary through all the tough combinations, his massive stride eating up the distances so easily and pinging through the tricky last water like a dude. An innocuous white railed brush oxer close to home was nearly their undoing though when Joker just decided to lengthen into it AKA Ascona M ( Ava) who used to have the same kamikaze tendencies. Tim was like, err, no, we are not going to ground here and swung off Jokers head, Joker was like, I got this, followed swiftly by, umm… maybe I haven’t and they kind of went through the fence and survived the weirdest moment off the day. Personally I think Joker has got his Paris rage out of the way now and Burghley glory beckons.
Jonelle headed out for the third time on Chilli’s Midnight Star (Ollie). Ollie came with a reputation for being strong and a track like Hartpury was always going to test Jonelle’s control and Ollie certainly had a few moments but, as Jonelle said, he does look for the flags which is a big help when you are running down the distance! They added 10.4 time for 7th spot and another great run for Ollie who heads out of Hartpury with a solid performance under his belt.
Tim and Vitali were in 2nd overnight and then when Emily King had scorched around for just 3.2 time they were under pressure. Ollie Townend had withdrawn Cooley Rosalent in a top 4 position and Kitty King was yet to go in the leader position just 0.1 ahead of him. It turned out that Kitty just couldn’t match the speed with what was otherwise a beautiful round with Vendedi Biats and handed the win to Tim.
Tim and Vitali were simply sublime. The epitome of a fast XC round is that the horse and rider don’t look like they are going fast and I honestly thought that Tim was gearing up for Burghley with a super smooth round and not chasing the time. Their route through the last water was not only a classic masterclass it was so smooth as to be expected to add a couple of seconds. And then they crossed the line with the fastest time of the day, adding just 1.2 time to take the win. Pure class.
Due to the 2023 Gatcombe being abandoned that means that Vitali has the distinction of being a back to back British Open Champion for owners Joe and Alex Giannamore. This is pretty special and a unique achievement for Tim to hold the title across two different venues.
Cosby Green rode her own Copper Beach ( Sean ) and Highly Suspicious ( Puff) in the Open as well and as she noted, of the 8 Chedington entries they rolled a single pole and had 8 XC clears.
They must be doing something right!
The only shame is that despite the incredible class of the field without a sponsor Tim and Vitali take home a somewhat pitiable £400 instead of the Magic Millions £10k to the winner prize post. No shame to Hartpury who took it on last minute for sure but lets hope that these classes can find a sponsor in the future to match the class of the horses that come forward to contest it.
And thanks a million Hartpury and your team for making it happen in 2024!