One is loath to tempt fate with the show jumping still to come, but even if Mark Todd does not win Boekelo three-day event tomorrow, it is increasingly difficult to bet against the 55-year-old claiming a fourth Olympic individual medal – 28 years after his first – at London 2012.
With NZB Campino, a relative newcomer to this level, Todd led both after dressage and cross-country in Holland. He is the only rider from the first two days to have remained in the top 10, after giving riders of all generations a lesson in bold but economical riding over Sue Benson’s trademark accuracy fences.
Boekelo is a three-star event, a level below Badminton and Burghley but always a fantastically competitive end to the horse trials season in northern Europe. It’s notable for starting a huge number of horses (110) from more nations (21) than any other comparable competition; organisers say that 30 per cent of Boekelo runners always go on to the following year’s European championship or Olympic Games, and there will have been extra interest in getting a run this weekend, for Boekelo is the last opportunity for many to ride a track designed by Sue Benson before she unveils her Olympic cross-country at Greenwich next summer.
In May, Todd rode another debutant, NZB Land Vision, to re-write his own extraordinary history by winning his fourth Badminton, 11 years after officially “retiring “ from eventing and going home to New Zealand to train racehorses. Todd says it took a solid three years to get back to the riding standard he had left off. His peers voted Todd “Rider of the 20th Century” after he’d apparently hung up his boots. He certainly warrants the billing, for as well as riding as well as ever he has seamlessly assimilated numerous technicalities that changed the character of eventing in his absence.
Boekelo always attracts numerous Brits, a mix of established riders with younger horses ready to be asked tough questions, and up and coming riders aiming to cement their own credentials. This year’s was not memorable for the 19 who crossed the channel, with only five British still in the top 30 after cross-country.
Best is Tina Cook, fifth overnight with De Novo News. Cook has produced the horse from his “baby” days. He is not yet in the same league with his dressage but she will be thrilled to have a capable understudy for 2009 European champion Miners Frolic. The latter missed the 2011 season after suffering life-threatening colitis, which reduced him to a skeletal state, and while Cook is simply happy he has he survived, his ability to defend his 2008 Olympic individual bronze is inevitably unclear at this stage.
Domestic distractions may have meant that Zara Phillips did not have the best preparation for Boekelo with Lord Lauries, who won a one-day international in Ireland on his previous outing, but Boekelo was a step up both in distance and class for this German-bred horse and they had a demoralising three refusals at “accuracy” fences when lying third overnight. However, Phillips’ top string High Kingdom excelled on his Burghley debut and has put her back in Olympic contention. Even if it’s back to the drawing board with Lord Lauries, she can still be satisfied with her best competitive season since Toytown’s retirement.
Producing horses to this level is a long game and most major names accept there will be consecutive seasons on the sidelines as they train-up the next equine generation. The desire to be part of London 2012 is immense, though, and there is an unusual amount of gossip about negotiations between riders of rival nations anxious to lease horses from each other for next year.
Two without this imminent worry are William Fox-Pitt and Mary King, who have qualified over 12 horses between them already. Missing Boekelo, they make the long drive south on Monday to the Pyrennees where their season-long tussle for both the world number one slot and the HSBC Classics series prize comes to a conclusion at Pau.
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