In a thrilling about-face after the Friday lunch-break at MARS Badminton, seven horses and riders posted unprecedented sub-22 scores to push Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo right out of – nah, don’t worry, we’re kidding, they’re still in the lead on this morning’s 23.7, to absolutely nobody’s surprise but everybody’s great admiration. (Everybody including Queen Camilla: when Ros joined us in the mixed zone earlier, we were warned to keep our questions quick, concise, and to the point, because she was just moments away from being whisked off to meet Her Majesty. No word back yet on whether she received any more 9s for her curtsey, but we’ll assume so.)
By the by, Queen Camilla wasn’t just here for the day to watch some great sport and meet our current sporting head of state – Her Majesty is Patron of the Ebony Horse Club, a Brixton-based initiative that provides access to horses to young people in south London who may not otherwise have the opportunity to learn to ride and care for them. It’s an incredible effort and has done extraordinary work to diversify riding and create a safe, welcoming environment for riders to flourish when they may not otherwise be able to get a foot in the door, and it was a delight to see some of the Club’s members mounted in the main arena to demonstrate the product of their hard work. You can find out more about Ebony, and support their work if you’re able, here.
So how’s that leaderboard looking? There’s Ros in top spot, of course, and then the US’s Tiana Coudray and Cancaras Girl, Thursday’s emotional leaders who put a 28.1 on the board yesterday afternoon and have stayed firmly in the mix ever since.
And in third? A new addition this afternoon, a third flag at the business end of the leaderboard, and another woman who probably couldn’t really love her horse more if she tried.
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier. Photo by Sophie Robins/Girl in the Field.
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Hooney d’Arville have firmly catapulted themselves into ‘fan favourite’ territory since their victory at Luhmühlen CCI5* in 2024 – Belgium’s first-ever five-star win and the zenith of a storied partnership that began well before Hooney was a foal on the ground. Lara bred the mare, putting her youth championship – and senior World Championships — ride Nooney Blue to the Belgian showjumping stallion Vigo d’Arsouilles, but in a funny sort of way, the significance of Hooney’s parentage meant that Lara struggled under the weight of her own expectations, and it took plenty of time, patience, and the odd bit of turbulence en route to seal the deal as an established, consistently competitive partnership.
Now, though? They’re at the forefront not just of Belgian eventing, but of the broader global sport, too. Today, they hit another milestone, earning a five-star personal best of 28.6 to take overnight third place at the close of the dressage phase.
“If you’re going to do a PB, Badminton is the right place to do it,” laughs Lara. “She felt fantastic in there. She knows she’s in Badminton, and she has been quite a lot to handle when we arrived, but my groom did a fantastic job [keeping her on track] until now.”
Her groom, the FEI Groom of the Year Bettina Cardinael, has “let her graze for about four hours a day,” continues Lara, “to not let her think too much about it all.”
Lara de Liedekerke-Meier and Hooney d’Arville. Photo by Sophie Robins/Girl in the Field.
That, and keeping the work to a minimum – a tough ask for a rider who has one horse to focus on all week, when it’s all too tempting to keep oneself busy in the saddle.
“Obviously I want her to be on top form tomorrow, so it’s the challenge of trying to be the good athlete and the good rider, and also taking a lot of time out without the work,” she says. “She knows the work now; she’s thirteen years old and has nothing to learn, so it’s just about keeping her happy.”
“For me,” she continues, “we didn’t have the best preparation – we had a fall [at Kronenberg in March] and she ended up in the stable for ten days because we thought she might have a fracture, but it ended up not being anything, luckily. Then, I wasn’t sure I was going to come here; now, I’m here.”
It is, she acknowledges, “such an accomplishment to be here, and riding in that arena with nothing to lose. I think I’m finally enjoying my time at Badminton, and it not being so stressful. I enjoyed going in there; I felt she was great.”
They did, perhaps, have a slight moment of stress just before the start of their test: “[Ground Jury President] Kiki Klingspor rang the bell really early, so we had to do a bit of running into the arena, but maybe it allowed me to externalise my stress a bit!”
From then on out, it was smooth and sweet – and a rare moment in which Lara didn’t reach for immediate self-criticism.
“I think we made everyone proud – at least myself,” she grins.
Felix Vogg and Cartania. Photo by Sophie Robins/Girl in the Field.
It’s a real treat to see such an international top ten at the tail end of the first phase: the top seven after dressage all represent different nations. Fourth-placed among them at this early stage is Switzerland’s Felix Vogg and Cartania, the spicy mare with whom he won Maryland 5 Star last autumn.
The pair posted a 28.7 – just 0.4 higher than their first-phase score when winning Maryland, and their best Badminton score yet. Still, in her fourth visit here – she was eleventh in 2024 and fifteenth in 2023 – fifteen-year-old Cartania hasn’t quite learned to settle into the colossus of buzz that a Friday here conjures up.
“It was a disaster the last few days, and still out there in the arena she got nervous – but somehow, we always get it done,” says Felix with a grin. “All the way up [from the stables], the atmosphere, the dogs barking, all this stuff – she’s not so used to it.”
Caroline Powell and Greenacres Special Cavalier. Photo by Sophie Robins/Girl in the Field.
2024 Badminton champions Caroline Powell and Greenacres Special Cavalier have gone to the mid-20s at this level when competing at Burghley last autumn, and so their very smart 29.8 today doesn’t threaten their personal best – but it’s more than good enough for overnight fifth place, and it eclipses, too, the 30 they put on the board en route to winning here two years ago.
“I’m very pleased,” says Caroline. “You know, it’s tough out there to get a good mark, but she went out and put a game face on, and she, she was very good. I’m very happy.”
At thirteen, ‘Cavvy’ is just coming into her prime, despite already being a five-star winner and with four completions at the level under her belt (girth?) already. Today, it was clear to see how much she’s physically come on over the winter, with her big, athletic frame looking stronger and more engaged than ever before and giving us yet another reason to suspect that Team NZ might just come into their best form yet this summer.
Tim Price and Falco. Photo by Sophie Robins/Girl in the Field.
Speaking of team NZ, a little bit further down the top ten – past Brazil’s Marcio Carvalho Jorge and Royal Encounter in sixth (29.2), Great Britain’s Will Rawlin and Ballycoog Breaker Boy in seventh (29.3), Wills Oakden and Keep It Cooley in eighth (29.4), and Bubby Upton and Cola in ninth (29.8) is Tim Price and his 2022 World Championships double bronze medallist Falco, who round out our post-dressage top ten on a score of 29.9.
“A sub-30 is good, but I wanted a good, low, proper score in there. Sounds a little bit stupid, doesn’t it?” laughs Tim. “ But he is capable, and he can really put together a great test. It just takes a couple of mistakes, especially a little bit of tension, even though, overall, I think it’s quite relaxed and soft and a nice way of going. But as soon as there’s a little bit of tension, I think it just gets the judges a little bit.”
Tim, who had an operation on his collarbone just prior to Kentucky thanks to an ill-timed incident on an electric bike, still looked a touch tentative in his upper body in the ring today, but when pressed, grins and says, “the shoulders are all good – I’ve still got two of them.”
Two is all you need, we suppose.
Grace Taylor and Game Changer. Photo by Sophie Robins/Girl in the Field.
One more US representative took to the ring today: Grace Taylor and Game Changer take provisional equal 15th place, level with Ireland’s Georgie Goss and Feloupe, after posting a 30.8 this afternoon. That’s a nearly five-mark improvement over the last two years’ Badminton tests.
“I’m really happy with him,” says Grace. “You always want more, but he went really well, and I’m really pleased. Like, it’s a fantastic atmosphere. We all work towards events like this our whole lives, and to go in there and have the crowd cheer you is always amazing.”
Tomorrow, she hopes, will propel them even closer to the top ten finish they’d love to secure at this level.
“This is our seventh five-star, and I think we have four clears from six so far – so I’ll take that average,” she smiles.
That’s a wrap on dressage here at MARS Badminton, but certainly not the end of the line from EN – we’ll be bringing you plenty more before the day’s end, so head on over to our Ultimate Guide to catch up on the coverage you may have missed and stay tuned for lots more to come. Until then: Go Eventing!
The top ten at the end of dressage at MARS Badminton.
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