Domestic bliss
First-timer Max Warburton (GBR) and his partner, Susie Berry (IRL), had plenty of reason to cheer when they produced two impeccable rounds across the country early in the day with Irene Leva (32nd) and Deerpairc Revelry (21st) respectively.
Susie, for whom this was a first Defender Burghley cross-country completion, was only the second rider through the finish flags this morning on Irene Leva and stopped the clock to add 26 time penalties to her dressage score of 40.3.
“That’s why I put up with her in the dressage,” joked Susie, who shares a yard with Max in Northamptonshire. “I’ve never had a horse like her; I came to the Cottesmore Leap a little underpowered and she still skipped over it — there aren’t many horses who would have done that.”
Max, who celebrated his clear round with a gin and tonic while talking to the press, was equally delighted with his relatively inexperienced 10-year-old.
“He’s brave and very clever,” said Max of Deerpairc Revelry, who finished second in the CCI4*L at Bramham earlier in the season. “He lacks a bit of mileage and I wasn’t 100% sure he’d stay the trip, but when Susie came home so well early on it gave me a huge amount of confidence as I knew we had done the same work on the gallops with our horses.”
The couple almost made
it three out of three as Susie’s second ride, Wellfields Lincoln,
looked set to complete the hat-trick, but Susie opted to retire him
following an unlucky 20pen at the Dairy Mound.