Our incredible run of weather continues with wall to wall sunshine at Burnham Market. There were people walking round in shorts and T shirts today which is quite the move from the normal five layers topped with full on waterproofs as the Baltic wind hits the first landmass since leaving Sweden and Denmark.
There is though, sadly, a downside to this. The driest March on record since 1961 ( and no rain in April yet either) may have made us smile but trying to run an event in Norfolk with the wind whipping away must have been quite the headache for Alec Lachore and his team. They have been working on the footing all weekend but an event that normally runs in monsoon conditions is never going to be anything but firm in this spring. The positive is that it is consistent, but constantly firm, is what is is as Tim politely put it.
A long old three days in Norfolk for Tim and the team as the 3*S is spread out over Friday to Sunday and Tim has both Garcon ( Tibo) and Gloire de Marchenval (Louis) in that section. They both did their tests on Friday, scoring 34.5 and 33.4 respectively in a huge class of 86 starters. Both Louis and Tibo had a day off today as Tim ran the National classes with Jarillo (Milo), The Highlander ( Ivar) and Happy Boy.
An early start with Tim in the dressage arena at 8.06 am with Milo in the OI which is never Tim’s favourite thing but although a score of 32.7 seems a bit ordinary for Milo the section lead in the dressage was a 31.6. It was almost like it had been judged by AI as the scores were all so similar or maybe the judge had had a late night and wasn’t a fan of the early start either so just barked “7” and “6.5” at his writer consistently. Ivar was in the other OI section and he did brilliantly considering he is a first time intermediate and should, as such, be in the ordinary Intermediate section but he pinched his slot from Kentucky bound Falco who is way above an OI start these days before getting on his plane. Ivar more than held his own for a 26 which was just 2 points behind the winner.
Milo jumped a superb clear round in the showjumping which was not entirely unexpected and his connections breathed a sigh of relief as Tim withdrew him from the XC and he heads to Kentucky on Wednesday.
Ivar rolled a pole for 4 faults over a decent intermediate track with aplomb for his first crack at the level and as he set out cross country he decided that as the fences were bigger he needed to jump allot higher. He was ballooning fences which showcased how green he is but at the water at fence 9 he did get a shock. It’s under the trees in a dip and a big old log drop into a spooky pond. Ivar came in, went to go, baulked at the drop, stopped and he and Tim then fought gravity to stay on the take off side of the fence. It was a bit of a heart stopping moment but they survived and Tim walked away and I was convinced he was walking home with Kentucky in mind. Suddenly Ivar re appeared, at pace and launched into the water like a helicopter ( A British one, not like the USA ones which keep plunging into the Potomac) with an enormous leap which Tim sat effortlessly and cantered on out over the exit jump.
A few more huge leaps and then the problem combination. A skinny bush on an angled ditch with three forward strides to an open corner. Some of those who had hung in the air or were short striding had done 4 but that wasn’t the ideal option and Tim came in strong. Ivar opted for helicopter mode again and jumped the fence like a 1m 40 showjump, landed flat footed and Tim pulled off the corner as he is not a rookie anymore and knew that would not end well. He circled, jumped the corner beautifully and headed home with Ivar over jumping everything but learning all the way. Tim was delighted that Ivar had got to jump the whole track for the experience and I think sometimes we watch Tim on the advanced horses and think he is pretty cool but my, the ride he gave Ivar today was brave, classy, committed and a pure masterclass. There is a reason why he will be World No. 1 again very shortly.
If Ivar is at the green end of the scale then multiple winner Happy Boy is absolutely the opposite. I am not going to list his wins for fear of dropping into the “22 million pound black hole” game and my father wasn’t actually a tool maker. Happy purred through the morning of his advanced run with a solid 30 in the dressage, a lovely clear round and headed out cross country for his make or break Kentucky run.
Falco stayed at home. Milo didn’t run. Happy was well aware one feels of the chat at the stables and had time to plan his moves. Falco has probably been insufferable since Paris Olympics, Milo is clearly on the spectrum and has various issues to counter his brilliance and Happy had allot to think about. He wants to fly….but on his terms. How to effect that….
Well, what Happy did is a bit like that old tale of ” What Katy did next” although since that was written in 1886 it has lost some relevance. Although ability to shock is still the same. Happy has walked home from Burnham Market quarry before, it was a tricky old course which didn’t flow particularly well with coffins and sunk roads and the quarry plus the tricky combinations and had all the elements that Happy could have baulked at. And the ground wasn’t the best.
Happy was amazing. He fought for Tim all the way and jumped a superb round. Right up until he stopped at the last!
I think Happy is the cheekiest brat ever but Tim defends him to the last. He says he was delighted with him but the run down to the last fence was on an odd camber, the ground was firm, he was trying to wait to the last adding down the hill and he said he ended up with no distance. Tim described it as a “miss ride” which is possibly in the sack cloth variety of excuses but that is great thing about Tim, if he is at fault he is the first to put his hand up.
I reiterate what I said at Thoresby , if anything Happy is on even longer odds for a win now but, as Jonelle says, what a story!