Equestrian News NI » sam griffiths

Sam Griffiths leads the field after the first day of Dressage

News Desk — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 09:01:45 +0000

Sam Griffiths (AUS) and Happy Times have retained their place at the top of the leaderboard after the first day of dressage at The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials on a score of 40.2.

 Sam and the 15-year-old gelding, who he owns along with Steve and Dinah Posford and Juliet Donald, hold a narrow lead over Sam’s fellow countryman Andrew Hoy on Rutherglen, who slipped into second place just after lunch with an elegant, accurate test that earned them a mark of 40.8.

  “Happy Times is feeling as good as ever,” said Sam. “I felt very relaxed going into the test and I think that filtered through to him. The test felt very natural.”  

Andrew, meanwhile, credits Rutherglen’s performance to help from Olympic dressage team gold medallist Laura Tomlinson. 

 “At Luhmuhlen [in June] I overdid the warm-up and Rutherglen didn’t do a good test at all,” he explained. “He’s an anxious horse and if he makes a mistake it worries him. Laura told me to aim for a relaxed test today – something that I could build on in the future.”  

America’s Allison Springer slipped into third place with Arthur, the horse she partnered to sixth place here in 2012. The flamboyant chestnut produced a punchy, active test to score 41.2.  

“This was probably his best performance here to date,” said Alison. “We made an uncharacteristic mistake with our timing in the first flying change, but luckily one of the judges didn’t notice.”  

Piggy French lies fourth and is the best British rider with Westwood Mariner, while Marilyn Little (USA) and Izzy Taylor (KBIS Briarlands Matilda) complete the top six.  

Dressage resumes at 10am today when Tim Cheffings will be first into the arena with Alinero Van Het Scharenberg. William Fox-Pitt (Bay My Hero) and Andrew Nicholson (Avebury) – two of the bookies’ favourites for the title – will perform their tests tomorrow afternoon.

FEI Classics™: Sam Griffiths fulfils his Badminton dream

News Desk — Mon, 12 May 2014 11:54:17 +0000

Australia’s Sam Griffiths and the Irish-bred Paulank Brockagh on their way to victory in the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials, fourth leg of the FEI Classics™. (Kit Houghton/FEI)

Written By Kate Green

Popular Australian rider Sam Griffiths produced a superb display of horsemanship in today’s Jumping phase to win his first major title, the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (GBR), fourth leg of the FEI Classics™ 2013/2014, with Paulank Brockagh, the mare that he co-owns with Dinah Posford and Jules Carter.

In a competition of extraordinary twists and turns, Griffiths and the Irish-bred 10-year-old, rose from overnight fifth place with a well-judged four-fault Jumping round that was good enough to win due to the strong influence of Kelvin Bywater’s (GBR) course.

Griffiths’ fellow Australian, Cross Country leader Paul Tapner on Kilronan, had been left a two-rail advantage to win but even this was too close for comfort in the squally weather and he had four fences down plus time penalties to drop to fourth.

Oliver Townend (GBR) hit two rails on the 15-year-old Armada yet moved up two places to take the runner-up spot and Harry Meade (GBR) rose from eighth to a career best of third place with an elegant four-fault round on Wild Lone.

“I had thought that if I did well I could move up, but there were still good riders in front of me and I had no expectations of being on the podium,” said Griffiths, who was well down the field in 25^th place after the Dressage.

Griffiths added: “This is the ultimate dream. As a little boy in Australia, I used to wait for the video tapes of Badminton to arrive, so to ride here was always a major ambition. This means the world to me. Badminton is the pinnacle.”

Townend said: “I’ve told Sam to enjoy every minute of this because it still hasn’t quite sunk in that I’ve won this event [in 2009].”

He added: “I’m thrilled with my result. I was mortified after the Dressage [after which he was 34^th] but this has made up for it. The reason Armada is good across country is because he is tricky in the other two phases. It is a fantastic feeling to be sitting on a Ferrari like him. At certain points yesterday, I felt that this was what Cross Country was all about.”

Harry Meade’s third-place finish is all the more remarkable because he spent months lying helpless in hospital after breaking both elbows in a fall last August. “At the start of the week, I was beyond expectations, but somehow everything added up and I feel that I coped very well,” he said. “My arms felt fine on the Cross Country and I loved the fact that it was windy and wet.”

Meade, who lives only three miles from Badminton and whose father, Richard, won here in 1970 and 1982, explained: “I couldn’t let myself get too excited and today I’ve felt calm and determined to enjoy it. The last few months have rather put things into perspective for me.”

Fourth-placed Tapner managed to be philosophical in defeat. “You start thinking of damage limitation when you hear those rails falling and I tried to change my way of riding. But that’s the way the sport is. I’ve been in both positions here before. One went my way [when he won in 2010] and this one didn’t.”

Pascal Leroy (FRA) dropped from third to fifth on Minos de Petra but still achieved the best result for a French rider since Nicolas Touzaint won in 2008. Three-time winner Pippa Funnell (GBR) held onto sixth place on the exciting prospect Billy Beware with one fence down and four time penalties.

Tim Price (NZL) had warned that Jumping was Ringwood Sky Boy’s weakest phase and he dropped from second to ninth with 19 faults behind Tim Lips (NED) on Keyflow NOP, seventh, and Sweden’s rising star Ludwig Svennerstal on Alexander, eighth.

Three horses were withdrawn overnight before Jumping: Karascanda TSF, ridden by Karl-Steffan Meier (GER), which had leapt 61 places to 20^th after Cross Country, Kelecyn Ice Age (Emma Douglas, AUS, 34^th) and Beltane Queen (Nicola Wilson, GBR, 25^th), which had been awarded 21 penalties for a broken frangible pin.

All 32 horses presented at the final Horse Inspection passed, including Wendy Schaeffer’s (AUS) Koyuna Sun Dancer, which was sent to the holding box. Schaeffer successfully appealed the 20 penalties given for a refusal at the Mirage Pond (fence 16). This elevated her from 26^th to 18^th before Jumping and then she produced the only clear round of the day (albeit with three time penalties) to rise to 12^th.

Although Pau (FRA) and Kentucky (USA) winner William Fox-Pitt surprisingly played no part in the final day at Badminton, he is still the clear leader, by 15 points, in the FEI Classics™. However, Sam Griffiths’ Badminton victory elevates him straight into second place and he and other riders still have chances at Luhmühlen (GER) next month to try and catch up before the series finale at Burghley (GBR) in September.

Final results at Badminton

1 Sam Griffiths/Paulank Brockagh (AUS) 46.3 + 17.6 + 4 = 67.9

2 Oliver Townend/Armada (GBR) 48.7 + 14.0 + 8 = 70.7

3 Harry Meade/Wild Lone (GBR) 51.0 + 16.4 + 4 = 71.4

4 Paul Tapner/Kilronan (AUS) 36.0 + 20.4 + 16 = 72.4

5 Pascal Leroy/Minos de Petra (FRA) 47.3 + 15.2 +10 = 72.5

6 Pippa Funnell/Billy Beware (GBR) 42.3 + 24.0 + 8 = 74.3

7 Tim Lips/Keyflow NOP (NED) 52.5 + 14.0 + 12 = 78.5

8 Ludwig Svennerstal/Alexander (SWE) 53.2 + 18.8 + 8 = 80.0

9 Tim Price/Ringwood Sky Boy (NZL) 50.0 + 11.6 + 19 = 80.6

10 Lara de Liedekerke/Ducati Van Den Overdam (BEL) 49.0 + 26.8 + 8 = 83.8

Full results on www.badminton-horse.co.uk

Wicklow-Bred Irish Sport Horse Wins Badminton Horse Trials

News Desk — Mon, 12 May 2014 11:35:22 +0000

AFTER one of the most dramatic competitions in its 65-year history, an Irish Sport Horse won the Badminton four-star Horse Trials in England today (Sunday), with three other Irish-bred horses finishing in the top ten.

Bred in Newtownmountkennedy, Co. Wicklow by Paula Cullen – mother of Irish rugby star Leo Cullen – the bay mare Paulank Brockagh moved from 25th place after the dressage phase up to fifth after cross-country, to outright victory after the show jumping phase this afternoon.

Ridden by Australia’s Sam Griffiths, the 11 year-old daughter of Touchdown had just one fence down in the show jumping arena at the Duke of Beaufort’s estate, and came home 2.8 penalty points ahead of British runner-up Oliver Townend and Armada, while Britain’s Harry Meade rode the Irish-bred Wild Lone into third place.

Australia’s Paul Tapner, the overnight leader after cross country, claimed fourth place on the Irish Sport Horse Kilronan, while New Zealand’s Tim price placed yet another Irish Sport Horse, Ringwood Sky Boy, in ninth.

Austin O’Connor was best of the Irish riders at Badminton, finishing in 15th place on Ringwood Mississippi (ISH) after lowering just one pole during show jumping.

This year’s Badminton saw 25 eliminations and 18 riders opting to retire on the tough new-look cross country course, while in show jumping no rider managed to finish on a fault-free score.

The success of Irish-bred horses at Badminton’s four-star event followed close on the heels of victory in the USA’s four-star competition two weeks ago, when another Irish Sport Horse, Bay My Hero – bred by Bryan Maguire in Wexford – took first place in the famous Rolex Kentucky event, ridden by Britain’s William Fox-Pitt.