Townend is pipped to title at Burghley

Riding last year’s winning mount Ballaghmor Class, Shropshire’s Townend was second overnight, and moved into the lead with his run in the show jumping ring with just New Zealand’s Tim Price left to compete.

However, Price kept his cool to deliver a nerveless display atop Ringwood Sky Boy for his first Burghley title.

Afterwards, Townend was full of praise for the victor as well as his own horse and the team that worked so hard to get him in a position to mount a terrific title defence.

“The horse jumped as well as he’s ever jumped and he feels on fantastic form,” said Townend, 35. “It sounds a bit strange but he’s twice the horse he was at Burghley last year.

“Obviously he just got beaten, but at the same time full credit to Tim and his team, we were beaten by a more mileaged horse and a top-class jockey. It was their day.

“Consistency is the key and we’ve been saying for years, ‘these are the good horses, these are the horses that are really special’.

“Everyone kept saying, ‘Yeah, yeah you said that three years ago’, but they take so long to produce and so long to get here and now they are here.

“Touch wood, they are sound and able to go on again. They are still very young to be at this level and the form that they’ve got between them is unreal.

“I don’t want to be greedy and he had a bit of a knock to his leg he picked up on the cross-country and I didn’t want him to be under any sort of pressure that he didn’t need to be.

“I was reliant and the other two that are good jumpers and was just happy to go forward with those and look after him for another day.

Family-friendly Burghley is one of two UK-based four-star events and one of only six in the world, with 160,000 people and the best riders on the planet descending on Stamford for the weekend’s action.

And fans were treated to the very best equestrian performances in dressage, cross-country and show jumping.

Townend is eager for his good four-star form to continue and admitted he revelled in the Burghley surroundings.

“It’s been a seriously unbelievable year, from Burghley last year to now,” added the world number one.

“Every four-star we’ve been to, we’ve been first, first, second and second, let’s hope it continues.

“I’m just enjoying being at Burghley, it’s fantastic for the owners that support me and fantastic for the sponsors.

“We’ve got a decent team of top-class horses, with a fantastic bunch of people behind them and it’s very special just to be able to keep coming back with better and better horses and being more competitive every year.”

PLEASE LEAVE IN FINAL PAR: The multi-award-winning Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials from August 30 – September 2 has been established as a major international equestrian and social event in the Autumn Sporting Calendar for over 50 years. For more information visit burghley-horse.co.uk