Can you put a Price on Burghley after Dressage: Tim Price
Images by Lucy Hall Photography – all rights reserved and are subject to copyright
Thursday Dressage
Thursday saw Tim Price compete two of his three rides, Bango who was on first thing and Xavier Faer who was on last thing and after the first day of Dressage Tim has two of his three rides in the top ten!!
Bango
Tim got the dressage of to a great start with Bango and certainly laid the gauntlet down! It all started with a very cheery ‘good morning’ to the officials upon entering the beautiful dressage arena at Burghley. Bang seemed very relaxed upon entry to the arena and within it as did Tim it was just a pleasure to watch.
They had a very lovely rhythm and proceeded to do a very accurate test with super Halts and a lovely Medium Walk. Tim did a great job with the Flying Change from the Medium Canter it was very smooth. The whole test just looked effortless and the score definitely reflected it with them gaining only 29.6 penalty marks which kept them in the lead for some time. They smashed their score from Badminton which was earlier in the year and the score they had from here last year
16th after dressage last year at Burghley – finished tenth
- Tim Price on Bango @Burghley 2019
Ben Way Caught up with Tim after his first ride of the day:
Talk me through your test Tim
It was deserved of every mark, it was a very smooth test.
He’s a horse thats a little bit sometimes, we’d call him ‘brittle’, he can be really good at home but when he comes out he can get like he’s on eggshells. So my main prerogative today was to be smooth and flowing, and then when everything is coming together and you’re out there you realise maybe you are being a bit too smooth and flowing but that was job number one and I was really pleased we were able to achieve that.
Did being in first thing on Thursday morning help with the dressage considering your horses personality as there is not as much atmosphere?
Totally!! Yep I’m really lucky the way that went as he’s a horse that reacts a lot to what is around him, and it did definitely feel like a Burghley atmosphere out there but in the morning it’s still getting going on the first day.
When riding at Burghley you have to be fit, with you having three rides here have you done any extra training to ensure you are fit enough yourself ?
Short answer would be no!, but I am very busy with what I am doing and this time of year, I think I’m a bit of a slow burner aren’t I , so this time of year is a good time for me as I am all up together and very tuned into the job physically and every other way. So I come here feeling ready to have one of those big days. I remember watching the likes of Andrew (Nicholson) and Oli (Townend) in the past and thinking they were crazy having three on a Saturday here but hopefully we will be able to do it and have a good rest on Saturday night, well thats the plan!
Xavier Faer
Tim was the final rider of the day on Thursday and was 3rd in Kentucky on this horse and to be honest you could see any one of his three horses winning Burghley in fact he could quite easily take first, second and third!
Xavier Faer looked very relaxed throughout his test and the energy level and balance was lovely along with correctness and accuracy of the test. Time just shows us how relaxed he is in the Extended and Medium Walks and his transitions were very crisp, Unfortunately marks were lost in the second set of Flying Changes which was such a shame putting them on a score of 31.5 which is still a very respectable score and leaves Xavier Faer in 8th place
Image courtesy of Julian Portch Photography – all rights reserved and is subject to copyright
So after the first day of Dressage Tim has two of his horses in the top ten, which is no mean feat.
Interview is courtesy of Lloyd Bell Productions
Huge Congratulations, Good day at the office I should say, you must be pleased with that?
I am very pleased they are both horses that excel at the cross country job and jumping job in general, so with the flatwork you just want to do as as best as they can and not get affected by the atmosphere and not make any silly mistakes as a rider , so I was really pleased we managed to sort of cover most of those things
Busy time for you, you have another ride tomorrow in dressage, three horses here at Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials are you looking forward to that?
Yep Its my old Stalwart, one of my best mates Ringwood Skyboy, Ive been here many times with him so I do enjoy him, we know each other inside and out so he is quite a fun one to have left to do, the others guys I’ve got to use all my planning, thinking and execution to get the job done whereas him I can go , no auto pilot but I can just let it happen a bit more so thats quite fun
With defending the title with as you say your old buddy Ringwood Skyboy, do you feel like you come into this event and he’s your number one horse?
I don’t look at like that, I am very excited to have him here again, he always tend to enjoy being here, but these three horses in their own right are all really suitable for Burghley and all three have come in on really good form with their preparation and their fitness work so I am excited to ride each and everyone of them. Its a very individual task, three horses yes but I have to almost take out the computer chip and re-enter another one for each horse and the same can be said for each of the results that can knit, each horse is capable and I would like to see each of them do well.
Have you had chance to look at the cross country course , have you done your initial prep?
Yeah I have had a look around and as you would expect really big and a long way round, jobs to do everywhere, decisions to make, plans to make and to execute what you want to do. I have only had the one look I haven’t made firm plans but its a very cool looking track and I am looking forward to giving it a go
It is!, I still walk around thinking of myself trying to take this on as a young guy fresh off the boat from New Zealand, there is no substitute for the experience having been around having failed, having succeeded, knowing how the ground is and where the hills can really hit them in the bread basket. It can take the wind out of them and you have to recover in other places thats the nature of the beast here and it’s just there to be done!
The good old faithful pal of time pulls it off and keeps Tim in the top ten with a score of 28.7 so sits in joint 9th place just behind his wife! This is a very strong position for Tim to sitting in as last years winner on the brilliantly consistent Ringwood Skyboy who looked as happy as ever to be back in the arena at Burghley.
They came in meaning business and had a lovely frame and self carriage which made the test easy to watch. It was a nicely presented test and Tim presented the horse to the best of the horses capabilities. It was a fluent consistent test which was in a good balance throughout each movement was very punctuated in the transitions and overall it produced a very clean test.
Standings before Cross country for Tim Price :
Tim has all three of his horses in the top 20! Ringwood Skyboy sitting joint 9th and Bango just hanging on to the tail of the top few sitting in joint 11th!! This is an amazing achievement and I cannot wait to see how they all go cross country!
| Dressage Results |
| No | Horse | Rider | E | C | M | Pen | Pl | |
| 77 | MGH GRAFTON STREET |  |
Pippa Funnell | 201.0 | 198.5 | 203.0 | 22.8 | 1 |
| 81 | BALLAGHMOR CLASS | |
Oliver Townend | 190.5 | 198.5 | 193.5 | 25.3 | 2 |
| 80 | SPRINGPOWER | |
Izzy Taylor | 192.0 | 194.0 | 194.5 | 25.6 | 3 |
| 73 | VERMICULUS |  |
Lauren Kieffer | 189.5 | 197.5 | 185.0 | 26.7 | 4 |
| 52 | HARBOUR PILOT | |
Hannah-Sue Burnett | 193.0 | 192.5 | 185.0 | 26.9 | =5 |
| 63 | VANIR KAMIRA | |
Piggy French | 189.0 | 190.0 | 191.0 | 26.9 | =5 |
| 45 | DENIRO Z | |
Elisabeth Halliday-Sharp | 183.5 | 186.0 | 189.0 | 28.4 | =7 |
| 68 | FAERIE DIANIMO |  |
Jonelle Price | 182.5 | 195.0 | 181.0 | 28.4 | =7 |
| 22 | PRIORSPARK OPPOSITION FREE | |
Eliza Stoddart | 185.5 | 177.0 | 194.0 | 28.7 | =9 |
| 82 | RINGWOOD SKY BOY | |
Tim Price | 184.0 | 194.5 | 178.0 | 28.7 | =9 |
| No | Horse | Rider | E | C | M | Pen | Pl | |
| 1 | BANGO | |
Tim Price | 182.5 | 184.5 | 182.0 | 29.6 | =11 |
| 29 | REVE DU ROUET | |
Sarah Bullimore | 181.5 | 188.0 | 179.5 | 29.6 | =11 |
| 40 | SARAH D’ARGOUGES |  |
Sebastien Cavaillon | 183.0 | 181.5 | 183.0 | 29.8 | 13 |
| 6 | BILLY WALK ON | |
Pippa Funnell | 184.0 | 184.0 | 178.5 | 29.9* | =14 |
| 79 | SANTIAGO BAY | |
Gemma Tattersall | 177.5 | 184.5 | 185.0 | 29.9 | =14 |
| 60 | ALFIES CLOVER | |
Richard P Jones | 180.0 | 178.5 | 182.0 | 30.7 | 16 |
| 66 | CLASS AFFAIR | |
Zara Tindall | 182.0 | 178.0 | 179.5 | 30.8 | 17 |
| 25 | WII LIMBO | |
Georgie Spence | 186.0 | 179.5 | 172.5 | 31.0 | 18 |
| 12 | COLLIEN P 2 | |
Will Furlong | 173.5 | 184.0 | 179.0 | 31.2 | 19 |
| 42 | XAVIER FAER | |
Tim Price | 175.0 | 183.5 | 175.5 | 31.5 | 20 |
| No | Horse | |||||||
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