After the best summer on record in years the jet stream moved to the north after Wellington International and it has been sunshine and torrential showers ever since. Still warm though and no one can deny that the rain is much needed but also something of a shock after such a time without.
Today at Burghley (Wednesday) has been forecast to bear the brunt of a week old hurricane off the coast of the USA making its last stand across the UK. With the jog scheduled for 4pm the heavens opened at 3.30pm and a huge storm swept across the venue. The jog was swiftly moved to 4.30pm and with the long hike up to the main arena coupled with the delay and strong winds there were plenty of lively performances.
Vitali, ever the diva, continued his VIP status by barging through the waiting line to be allowed to jog first. Then, as always, he channelled his inner thug mode and engaged Park, Reverse and Full Forward in the space of a minute, pushed Tim on and off the track, pretended to be terrified of a pot of flowers at the end of the strip and came back in full extended trot to test Tim’s running ability.
Whichever member of the Defender team that decided to put two brand new Defenders quite so close to the dragon-hiding flower pot must have been quaking in their boots as horse after horse spooked at the flowers and span dangerously close to the fronts of the vehicles.
Public jogs are a breeze for some of the horses but most of the horses today were quite on ‘flight’ mode so Tim and Vitali were actually one of the more refined partnerships. Hats off for Jess for turning him out so beautifully and the team at home that have sent him looking simply amazing.
Live scoring and Burghley TV ( £25 for the year) available here: https://burghley-horse.co.uk
Times will be out shortly but Tim and Vitali will be on Friday when the weather is set fair again. Which is good as neither Tim nor his German friend like the rain.