Perfect 10 For Townend

A talented but fragile horse gives Oliver Townend his 10th win in the top class.

- Catherine Austen

OLIVER TOWNEND’S utter dominance of the CIC3* at Burnham Market is, surely, unprecedented in eventing in Britain. He first took it in 2007 on Flint Curtis, and last Saturday won it for the 10th time. Oliver was riding Angela Hislop’s Cooley Master Class, also victorious in 2016. The pair added just a single showjumping time-fault to their dressage mark of 39.2.

“I think this is the first event of the season at which I really aim to be competitive,” said Oliver. “I trust the ground and the course design here, which is why I bring the horses here to tee them up for the bigger things to come.”

Burnham Market was also a leg of the Shear water Insurance Tri-Star Grand Slam. Izzy Taylor won the first stage at Belton, and she and Oliver are bound to target the remaining legs (Houghton, Burgham and Hartpury) and the £50,000 on offer for winning three of the five.

It was a huge class, with 115 starters, and only Cooley Master Class and Byrnes grove First Diamond, with whom Andrew Nicholson collected a mark of 37.2, scored under 40 in the first phase. Byrnes grove First Diamond showjumped clear and set out across country in the lead, but the nine-year-old gelding, who is owned by Andrew’s mother-in-law Mary Channer, is new to this level and jumped round comfortably for 8.4 time faults for eventual third.

Twelve-year-old Cooley Master Class, who is by Ramiro B out of a Master Imp mare, is talented but fragile. This was only his second run since he won here last year — and only his fifth since Boekelo CCI3* in 2014.

“He’s had a few issues [he has had ligaments in a leg operated on] and now we’ll find out whether they have been dealt with,” Oliver said. “He’s not the toughest, but when he gets to an event, he’s class.”