Oliver Townend

A man who'd prefer to let his horses do the “talking”, the nine-time five-star winner sits down with Catherine Austen to discuss the inimitable Ballaghmor Class and why he considers horses his true mates

IT is said that dogs become like their owners, mirroring their personality traits and patterns of behaviour. Half in jest, I suggest to Oliver Townend that perhaps the same is true of him and Ballaghmor Class. Tough, utterly focused and professional in competition, a little bit insecure, loyal, affectionate, wild in their youth, occasionally tricky to handle...?

Oliver raises his eyebrows and says, with a wry smile, “We’re very similar. A good friend of mine said that we are the human-horse equivalent of each other, and that’s possibly becoming more and more true. I think we are both appreciating the big events more as we get older.”

Heading into the 14th year of their partnership, this symbiosis is hardly surprising. It is difficult to imagine one without the other, and their victory at the Maryland CCI5* last October - their fourth at the very highest level together, and Oliver’s ninth CCI5* win in total - was perhaps their crowning achievement to date, surpassing even that second Burghley triumph in 2023 and their Olympic team gold medal in Tokyo.

In the “character-building” game of snakes and ladders that makes top-class eventing such a frustrating, fascinating sport, Ballaghmor Class - who hadn’t skipped a beat in his lengthy career to that point - missed Badminton last spring with a foot problem that took time to clear up.

This denied Oliver, fresh from a Kentucky CCI5* win with Cooley Rosalent, a clear shot at the eventing Grand Slam, and he and Ballaghmor Class’s owners decided to give the horse “a proper, long break”.

“When he came back, I’d nearly left him too long - I couldn’t believe how fat he’d got - and I said he wasn’t going quite to be ready in time for Burghley. We’ve always loved going to Maryland; it was just figuring out how to make that happen,” Oliver says.