David Doel

The Burghley runner-up talks to Pippa Roome about improving his dressage marks, British team ambitions and ice cream

IN 2018, David Doel pushed a tired, backward-thinking Galileo Nieuwmoed up the final hill in Gatcombe’s novice championships to finish third.

“I remember thinking, ‘How am I ever going to get this horse round bigger events?’” he says.

This year, David piloted the same horse to second at Burghley – universally acknowledged as the hilliest, physically toughest five-star in the world – with one of only two clears inside the time across country. It’s quite a progression in just five years.

The pair’s partnership got off to an inauspicious start when Joy Dawes convinced a reluctant David to take Galileo to sell for her. The 30-year-old owes much of the horse’s turnaround to his dressage trainer, Adam Kemp.

“Adam was pretty instrumental in helping me get him in front of my leg and actually going somewhere,” said David.

The rider knew Galileo, now owned by Gillian Jonas, would be competitive at the top level from his eightyear-old season in 2019, when he won an advanced at Aston-le-Walls and was second in the CCI4*-S at Haras du Pin.

The fact he achieved that runner-up placing in France is typical of David’s approach as he has always competed abroad more than most.

“For a lot of owners, it’s a case of would you rather come top five in a four-star in Europe, against 20 or 30, or come 60th or 70th in a British field of 100?” he explains.

“The majority say they’d rather go to a nice place in Europe that’s not cold and windy. They put on good shows in Europe and I think we’re starting to be left behind over here, especially with bigger four-stars – they’ve got really nice surfaces for dressage and showjumping and a lot of these European events look after the going so much better.”