Townend's Badminton Horse Trials hopes ended over fences

Eighth place on Armada in the cross country left the rider, based at Dudleston Heath near Ellesmere, in contention for a good placing.

But 20 faults over the show jumping fences saw the 33-year-old, who won Badminton in 2009, finish up 25th.

He retired his other horse, Black Tie, on the cross country section.

The event was won by Michael Jung, in superb form just three months away from defending his Olympic title in Rio, who landed a £320,000 pay day.

Not only did he become the first German to win Badminton in its 67-year history, he also completed the £240,000 Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing which is awarded to any rider who lands consecutive Burghley, Kentucky and Badminton titles.

So tough is it to achieve that Jung is only the second rider to land the feat, following Britain's Pippa Funnell 13 years ago.

And just for good measure, Jung's winning score of 34.4 penalties set a new Badminton record, eclipsing Australian Andrew Hoy's 36.5 finishing mark with Moonfleet in 2006.

Jung went into Sunday's showjumping finale knowing he could afford to knock down two fences aboard the brilliant La Biosthetique-Sam and still triumph.

In the end, he removed all avoidance of doubt by jumping clear, finishing nine penalties clear of the field, with his countryman Andreas Ostholt second aboard So Is Et and Sussex-based Gemma Tattersall leading the British challenge by taking third spot with Arctic Soul.

In doing so, 31-year-old Tattersall - who followed up a clear cross-country round inside the time at last year's European Championships by impressively repeating that feat at Badminton - has given herself an outstanding chance of making the four-strong Great Britain team for this summer's Olympics.

The Badminton finale, though, was all about reigning Olympic and European individual champion Jung, who can now lay an irresistible claim to be the greatest eventer of all-time.

"I am so happy, so proud of my horse. He felt very good in the warm-up today, and I really can't believe it at the moment," Jung said.

"He is a really good friend to me. We are a really special team - a very good partnership. I know him very well in every situation, and he jumped amazingly.

"We will celebrate and enjoy the moment. This is a really special thing. We need a bit of time to understand everything of what we have achieved.

"I am very happy to ride horses. I like to bring the young horses to the top level, and that is not just my job, it is my hobby as well."

While Germany enjoyed a Badminton one-two, Britain had three finishers in the top eight - Tattersall, Tina Cook (Star Witness) and Izzy Taylor (Allercombe Ellie) - while Zara Tindall delivered a solid 23rd place on her return to four-star eventing with London 2012 team silver medallist High Kingdom.

Tattersall said: "I cannot even describe how this feels.

"He went in there, rose to the occasion and was absolutely phenomenal. I pretended that I was at my local place - jumping at Pyecombe (in Sussex) - just so we could get it into perspective. We did the job today, and I cannot tell you how pleased I am.

"It (showjumping) is not his strongest phase, but he is starting to prove that he can jump clear rounds on the last day now. He can jump clear rounds, and he was so calm today.

"I don't know whether he even touched a fence. I am so proud of him. I feel absolutely fabulous, and this means more than you can possibly imagine."

Asked whether she can think about Rio - the British selectors are due to announce their quartet in early July - she added: "Yes. Why not?"

But Britain received a strong reminder of the standard they will need to hit in Brazil, as Germany's one-two apart, potential medal rivals like New Zealand had four top-nine finishers, led by 60-year-old double Olympic champion Mark Todd in fourth, while France saw four riders claim top 20 spots.

ends