Tough cross country day for Aussies at Badminton
Sam Griffiths and Paul Tapner remain in the competition at the 2016 Badminton Horse Trials after a challenging day on cross country prematurely brought an end to Chris Burton and Bill Levett’s weekends.
Tapner is the best placed of the pair and is ranked 21st after adding 6.8 time penalties to his Dressage score. He will carry a total of 46.20 penalties into the show jumping.
“It’s a tough track,” said Tapner. “There were plenty of penalties all day. I’m a little disappointed that I was a little slow and didn’t pull up as many places as I would have liked.
“The mare was fantastic, galloped well and I can’t be disappointed with her because she gave it her all.” Listen to Paul’s full interview
Sam Griffiths will start Sunday’s show jumping from 29th position and with 69.40 penalties after a costly run out added jumping and time penalties to his score.
“I can’t fault my horse, I just turned a bit tight to a fence and it didn’t quite pay off but she was a star and jumped beautifully so I’m pleased with how she’s gone." Listen to Sam’s full interview
Bill Levett retired his horse Improvise after the pair also had a run out.
“Not our day today,” said Levett on Twitter. “Womble (Improvise) and I had a stumble and a runout and then off our distance at the out at the hollow.
“(I’m) gutted as Womble was flying and up on time. One of those things, we will be back.”
Fifth after the dressage, Chris Burton and Nobilis 18 ended their 2016 Badminton campaign early after the pair was eliminated for a fall at Shogun Hollow.
For the second time in a week, Michael Jung (GER) showed exactly why he is world number one, producing an outstanding display of sympathetic horsemanship to retain his lead after the Cross Country phase. Read the full FEI report
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