How fast things change in horse sport.
Just last month, Gemma Stevens was mourning having wound up as the drop score for Britain’s gold medal eventing team at the FEI World Championships in Aachen, Germany, after being eliminated for three refusals with Flash Cooley.
On home ground Saturday, it was a far different story, as she took the lead aboard Chilli Knight at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials. Going into Sunday’s stadium jumping, she stands on her dressage score of 29.6 penalties after finishing cross-country three seconds inside the optimum time of 11 minutes, 20 seconds over the route laid out by American Derek Di Grazia.
After her world championships experience, where her “dreams were completely crushed,” she said, “it is really hard to pick yourself up. But I just thought ‘Do you know what? I am coming here with this little boy — get on with it.’ ”
Reflecting on her round aboard the horse she calls Alfie, Gemma added: “It felt like a rollercoaster. It [the course] just felt like you were constantly climbing or going downhill, turning the corner to another humungous fence. It was so relentless.
“I kept being down on my minutes, and I was like ‘Oh, no, I am never going to get the time’. Then I managed to claw it back, and then I was down on the next one, and then I clawed it back again, and I went round the whole course like that.”
Gemma and Alfie below the Lion Bridge. (Defender Burghley photo)
Second after dressage concluded on Friday, she now has a great shot at the winner’s prize of £120,000 ($162,000). Gemma got a figurative leg up to that position from Piggy March, who won Burghley four years ago on Vanir Kamira.
The help was in the form of a voice message from Piggy, who advised in no uncertain terms, “get out there and get on with it.”
Gemma didn’t need to be told twice.
“I do always get out there and want to get on with it, and that is what you have to do,” she summed up.
The finale will pose a challenge from world number one, Tim Price of New Zealand. He had been touted as a possible winner with Falco, but retired that horse after a refusal at the hanging log in the Trout Hatchery, the nineteenth of 28 obstacles.
Instead, he stands second with the less-decorated Global Quest, an Irish sport horse stallion who stepped up to the big time in a big way.
“There was a lot of learning to be done here,” said Tim, calling his mount “an authentic 5-star horse.”
He is riding Global Quest in honor of the late Georgie Campbell, who developed the horse and then died after a fall while riding him at the Bicton Horse Trials in Britain in May 2024.
Sixth after dressage, Tim was promoted to second on 36.9 penalties, his dressage score plus 4.8 for time cross-country, after taking a long route at the Leaf Pit obstacle. His total means Gemma can afford to have a rail down and a few time penalties in the jumping phase with her stallion, a son of the great eventing sire, Chilli Morning.
The top American in the standings is Caroline Pamukcu, who is fifth with her world championships mount, HSH Blake. Like Gemma, Caroline had a major disappointment at the championships. She suffered a fall early on cross-country when Blake stumbled and they were eliminated. But as is often the case with this determined rider, she came back strong.
Caroline added eight time penalties to her dressage score of 32. Without the time overage, she would be second.
With her other mount, HSH Tolan King, Caroline was in the unenviable position of being first to go on cross-country. But her horse jumped the string and left the track at the Trout Hatchery, so she retired.
Next-best for the U.S. was Jennie Brannigan with FE Lifestyle, making the big leap from seventeenth after dressage to twelfth, carrying 11.2 time penalties for a total of 47.2. Right behind her was Kentucky 5-star winner Will Coleman, this time with Very Dignified, dropping from ninth after dressage to thirteenth with 14 time penalties and a total of 47.2.
Nadja Minder, the Swiss overnight leader from dressage with the graceful and aptly named chocolate-colored Toblerone, moved down to sixth place with 13.2 time penalties. The horse is the oldest in the field at age 19.
“He is such a five-star warrior now, and he helped me out so many times,” she said, reflecting on her performance.
“I wish I had given him a better ride, but it is what it is. You know, he just pricks his ears, looks for the flags, front feet up, back feet up, and on we go. He is incredible. I don’t want to say it’s his last run here because he has been so good in the build-up and everything. He is definitely the horse that has shaped my career.”
She and Robin Godel, the other Swiss competitor, are being coached by Andrew Nicholson, the intrepid New Zealander who first won Burghley in 1995.
At this special venue, Andrew feels, “It is very much about the terrain at Burghley, the constant undulating gently up and down and having to ride between the fences as much as over the fences. You have got to ride a little bit on the seat of your pants from the start to finish.”
With the results of the day, he was proven to be spot-on in that assessment.
Sarah Bullimore and Corimiro, touted as the favorite combo before the event, had been given a 21 percent win chance by EquiRatings, with a 63 percent shot at making it into the top 10. However, they parted company at the last fence, as the rider flew off and the horse galloped through the finish line by himself. Sarah first rode at Burghley 30 years ago, but had never won the event.
Of the 46 who started cross-country, just 28 finished. The others either retired or were eliminated.
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