Laura Collett realised a childhood dream as she won Badminton Horse Trials, presented by Mars Equestrian, after a superb performance on Karen Bartlett and Keith Scott’s London 52. Laura’s finishing score of 21.4 — she added a mere 0.4 of a show jumping time penalty to her dressage mark — is a record completion score for Badminton.
Runner-up Ros Canter, the only rider to finish on her dressage score, showed she has another world champion in the making with the 10-year-old Lordships Graffalo, while Oliver Townend cemented his world number one position with third and fifth places on Swallow Springs and Ballaghmor Class respectively, each of his greys hitting a fence apiece.
It was the first British one-two-three since Pippa Funnell led William Fox-Pitt and Leslie Law 20 years ago in 2002, and Laura Collett revealed that Pippa’s win on Supreme Rock had been her childhood inspiration. ‘I was going round the cross-country on my aunt’s shoulders and I wanted to be Pippa Funnell winning Badminton,’ she said.
Please click here to read the rest of the article as it appears on the Badminton Horse Trials Website.