Written by Tony Millett.
An alert Kodi Bear - woth Head Lad Martin Berry who rides him outKodi Bear, a four-year-old colt who nearly lost his life last year to a very serious infection, is looking in peak condition once again - and set to take on the top flight entry for Newbury's Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes on Saturday (May 14.)
With £350,000 in prize money, this Group One contest run over Newbury's straight mile will be the highlight of the Al Shaqab Lockinge Day. A total £750,000 in prize money at stake makes this Newbury's most valuable race day.
The Irish-bred Kodi Bear, who won Goodwood's Group Two Celebration Mile in 2015, will be up against what his Lambourn trainer Clive Cox calls 'pretty tasty' opposition: "It will be a very hot race...It'll be a very interesting race."
Among that opposition is the ante-post favourite Limato - trained at Henry Candy's Wantage yard. Other favoured contenders include Marlborough-trained Toormore from Richard Hannon's yard. Toormore was second in the race last year and on Saturday will be one of five possible starters for owners Godolphin.
This will be Kodi Bear's seasonal debut. Last year he won three of his five starts. He was being prepared for the 2,000 Guineas when he was hit by the infection.
Clive Cox, Kodi Bear, Martin BerryHis trainer Clive Cox: "For a couple of days we were very concerned and he was pretty sick for a week." It seems he picked up an MRSA-like bug following a small swelling on a leg, but with antibiotics and his strong constitution he has overcome it.
His last outing was in October at Ascot in the Qipco Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He was obviously not on his best form and in a tight finish came home eighth in a field of nine.
Trainer Clive Cox During a visit to Clive Cox's yard, he reaffirmed his faith in the fully recovered Kodi Bear: "We all believe he's a group one horse. He's always been a horse that performed at the highest level. Potentially he's my best horse ever - as a miler."
Cox said he hoped Kodi Bear would do well for his owner Mrs Olive Shaw whose husband had been one of the trainer's 'biggest supporters'.
Cox, a former and successful jump jockey, has been training under licence since 1992. One of his most successful horses to date has been Lethal Force who won the 2013 Royal Ascot's Diamond Jubilee Stakes and the Darley Cup at Newmarket.
At present the ground on Newbury Racecourse is 'good to firm, good in places' - and that is after six millimetres of overnight (Monday-Tuesday) rain. Having lost their first flat meeting of the season due to waterlogged ground, three weeks later they were wondering whether they would have to water the mile.
As it is this weekend will see racing on turf that was last raced in October: "It's virgin grass." Newbury's Andy Clifton says: "It'll be perfect flat racing ground." Since then it has been raining some more...
How will the recent rain affect Kodi Bear? "Undoubtedly," says Clive Cox, "he's versatile when it comes to ground - he'll have no concerns over softer ground."
Newbury's Friday race card will almost certainly include the first of Frankel's offspring to compete on a racecourse. Since he retired to stud at the end of 2012, Frankel has so far sired 111 foals at a covering charge of £125,000 for each mare.
Those foals have aroused great interest at the sales. But it is thought the foals are at present taking more after their mothers than after Frankel. However, it should be remembered that only the top range of mares will be put to such a costly stallion as Frankel.
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Written by Tony Millett.
Michael Jung with the Mitsubishi Motors Trophy (photo courtesy: Badminton Horse Trials) Germany's Michael Jung riding La Biosthetique took the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2016 four star title - coming home nine points clear of his fellow German Andreas Ostholt on So Is Et.
His win completed the treble of winning Burghley, Kentucky and Badminton - making Jung only the second winner ever of the £240,000 Rolex Grand Slam prize.
New Zealand's Olympic hopes got a boost with their riders taking fourth, fifth, sixth and tenth places. Marlborough based Sir Mark Todd took Leonidas II into fourth place - aged 60 will he be going to his seventh Olympics?
Todd was followed by fellow Kiwis Clarke Johnston (fifth), Jonathan Paget (sixth) and Mildenhall based Jonelle Price (tenth). Jonelle's husband Tim Price was eliminated when he came off Ringwood Sky Boy during the cross country.
New Zealand's Blyth Tait came in at thirteenth place and Jess Campbell was placed at thirty-three.
Jonelle Price's horse Classic Moet - or Molly - was in great form and the pair were one of only ten combinations to come within the allotted time in the cross country. In the final show jumping stage of the competition, Molly was described as being 'on springs' - with just four faults.
Molly has now won her own Badminton silver horse and will not feel overawed by Ringwood Sky Boy's trophy when he and Tim came ninth.
Among other headlines: Great Britain's Gemma Tattersall - who had never been higher in the Badminton results than sixteenth - took third place on Arctic Soul and Zara Tindall rode High Kingdom - who she rode so successfully at the 2012 Olympics - into twenty-third place to give her qualification for the Rio Olympics.
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Written by Tony Millett.
An urgent phonecall...On Thursday morning (April 28) at Mere Farm, up on the downs above Mildenhall, Jonelle Price was schooling Ringwood Sky Boy, the horse her husband Tim will be riding in next week's Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (May 4-8). Tim was asleep in Lexington, USA - or maybe just waking for the first day of the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event and getting Bango ready for the dressage.
The season has been going for a couple of months - somewhat interrupted by sodden courses and cancellations. "Now", says Jonelle, "with Badminton we start six weeks on the trot" - six weeks of hard work, hard riding and a lot of travelling.
At Badminton she will be riding the thirteen-year-old mare Classic Moet - known as Molly - they are fresh from a competition win at Belton Park International: "She's in great form."
The new challenge this season is the introduction of the Event Rider Masters (ERM) competition. This is a concerted effort to bring eventing into the twenty-first century, popularise it through television coverage, make it more exciting and provide bigger prize money.
The first of the six-leg competition is a fortnight away at the Dodson & Horrell Chatsworth International Horse Trials in Derbyshire (May 14 and 15.) Both Tim (currently at number three in the world rankings) and Jonelle (currently number 17) will be taking part.
The third leg of this ground-breaking competition will be at the St James's Place Barbury International Horse Trials (9-10 July) - up on the Marlborough Downs.
"It is", Jonelle told Marlborough.News, "slightly going away from the traditional sport as we know it. Eventing takes place at beautiful places, but it's stuck in the last century. This will target the television audience and make it more exciting."
The ERM cameramen have been at Mere Farm - and the result is the stylish Are You Ready?
Click on image to access promo
Warming to the prospect of ERM, she adds: "They're coming from a completely different angle - revolutionising the sport really. Television is the key thing."
Jonelle schooling Ringwood Sky BoyCompetitors will wear the same numbers throughout the competition: "That'll make it all easier to follow for new comers to the sport."
With just 40 riders (from ten nations) accepted for this new contest, the dressage will take place on day one, the show jumping in the morning of day two and the cross country in the afternoon of day two.
The bottom 20 competitors after the show jumping will ride the cross country stage in a randomly drawn order. But the top 20 will go in reverse order and the prize giving will take place at the finish line - none of that waiting around while they double check the figures and get everyone in the right place.
The ERM team have been brought together by Di Brunsden and five other people involved in the sport - and passionate about it. Di Brunsden is part-owner of Sir Mark Todd's horse Leonidas II and former director of JP Morgan.
Jonelle Price waits her dressage entry: how long will the top hat survive in the Event Rider Masters era?Also in the team is Alice Plunkett (of Channel 4 Racing) who is also Mrs Fox-Pitt - wife of champion British eventer William Fox-Pitt. They have tapped the business expertise of Christopher and Lisa Stone - Christopher Stone is an owner of event horses and CEO of Northgate Information Solutions.
The ERM team will be going hard to make a big impact on social media - building on the reputations of their top riders like William Fox-Pitt who has 60,000-plus Twitter followers and 50,000-plus Facebook fans.
Tim Price's challenge at Kentucky ended at the last obstacle in the cross country when he parted company with Bango. He had been at tenth place after the dressage. Next stop Badminton.
Badminton is the next stop too for Germany's Michael Jung. He won the Rolex Kentucky riding Fischerrocana FST - becoming only the second rider to win this four-star event on the same horse in consecutive years. He returned an uncatchable 13.3-point lead.
If Jung wins Badminton this week, he will become only the second rider to win the lucrative Rolex Grand Slam with its $350,000 prize. Britain's Pippa Funnell is the only previous winner of the Grand Slam, - in 2002-03.
FOOTNOTE: Jonelle says that Wesko has started his rehabilitation from the injury that took him out of contention for Rio: "He will be back next year." Wesko has had three top placings in four-star competitions.
His injury is a blow for the New Zealand Olympic team. Last month Tim Price told Eventing Nation: "I think Wesko has Rio written all over him. I've felt it since he sort of came of age. He's proved himself at the four-star level and is finding that job easier." He said then his number two horse for Rio would be Bango.
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Written by Lucy Johnson.
Jesse Campbell with KaapachinoKiwi event rider Jesse Campbell, who is based near Marlborough, will have his first ride next week at one of the sport’s top events, the famous Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials (May 4-8), on his 13-year-old thoroughbred ex-racehorse Kaapachino.
Jesse missed the UK’s premier four-star competition last year when Kaapachino developed a bacterial infection. Instead they re-routed to Luhmuhlen in Germany, where they finished 16th at their first four-star in hot company.
This year preparations have gone much more smoothly in the lead up to Badminton and the 26-year-old New Zealander is looking forward to this prestigious competition: “Kaapy is a brilliant horse cross country and has all the credentials to tackle those famous fences."
"We’ve had a good build up with clears in cross country at Great Witchingham and the CIC3* at Belton International where he gave me a really great feel. He was superb."
"He also produced very good dressage tests at both competitions. Riding at Badminton has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember and to be riding there next week is brilliant.”
It’s an achievement in itself that Kaapachino is to contest Badminton. Prior to last year’s setback, he required a year off to recover from injury caused from his long haul flight from New Zealand: “It’s been a tough road for Kaapy, but we had a great season last year and with hindsight I think it was a good thing that we missed Badminton as it gave us more time to prepare for Luhmuhlen.
"After that he won the CIC3* at Millstreet in Ireland and we were also in the Nations Cup team that represented New Zealand at Boekelo and ensured qualification for the Rio Olympics.”
Jesse is based near Ramsbury where he trains and competes a dozen or so horses. He is one of nine riders on New Zealand's Eventing High Performance squad - vying for Rio Olympic selection.
He grew up in Cambridge, New Zealand in the heart of the horsey area of the Waikato - also home to Sir Mark Todd, Andrew Nicholson and Vaughn Jefferis. As a boy he aspired to ride like Mark and Vaughn and moved to the UK in 2010 to work for Andrew Nicholson before setting up his own yard two years later.
“I’ve always had a passion for horses,” he said. “I’ve no idea where it came from, as no one else is horsey in my family. When I was a kid and we visited mum’s friend I got out of my stroller and they found me in the paddock under one of the horses.”
Next week’s Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials will be Jesse’s toughest test yet: “Yes there is pressure because you want to do well and its on a much bigger stage than I have competed on before, but in reality its just me and my horse and before a big competition I like to imagine I am competing against myself so that I go out and do the best I possibly can for Kaapy.”
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![(On the right) Al Kazzem's brother Kazawi [Click to enlarge]](/images/images/Equestrian_-_Horsebox/ROGER_CHARLTON_/ROGER_CHARLTON_AL_KAZEEM_BROTHER_KAZAWI.jpg)
