Latta will be giving Burghley’s cross-country her ‘best shot’
It should come as no surprise whatsoever that Ireland's Lucy Latta cannot wait to get going on cross-country day at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials.
Lucy, an amateur rider based in Co Wexford who has spent much of her time at the top level of eventing working as brand manager for a soft drinks company, has campaigned 15-year-old gelding RCA Patron Saint for the best part of a decade.
They finished 22nd on their Burghley debut last year, which came 16 months on from a remarkable cross-country performance at Badminton, collecting just 0.4 of a time penalty, that meant they leapt 43 places after dressage and ultimately finished runner-up behind New Zealand's Caroline Powell.
This year's course distance at Burghley is 6,455 metres, with an optimum time of 11 minutes 20 seconds. The general view among competitors is one that the time will take some achieving, but do not bet against Lucy making a strong attempt.
"I am excited," she said. "It is a really good track, and it looks amazing. It has been built beautifully and they have done an incredible job on the ground, which we are so thankful for.
"It is exciting to be sat on him and going out there, so hopefully we can give it a good crack. Sometimes, at this level, you need a little bit of luck on your side, but we will be giving it our best shot.”
Lucy's family is steeped in the world of horses. Her grandfather William competed at Badminton, while her cousins Elizabeth Power and Robbie Power are a former five-star eventer and National Hunt jockey, respectively.
A dressage score of 36.0 meant a top-12 placing halfway through Friday's dressage action, and Lucy added: "He is generally quite chilled, but sometimes in the atmosphere he can get a bit anxious.
"It kind of felt that he went to run away from me a bit, but he tried for me and that is all I can really ask. He's a funny horse in that you see me walk up to the cross-country with him and he is on a loose rein, super-chilled. He is so not anxious about that part.
"But the atmosphere in the dressage, he just a bit like holds his breath and gets a little bit wooden on me, but he is not a machine and some days he is not going to be on his A game."