Townend canters to Burghley title

Oliver Townend completed British eventing's most prestigious double by adding the Burghley Horse Trials title to the Badminton crown he won in May.

The 26-year-old Yorkshireman guided Carousel Quest to a clear round in the showjumping phase to win from fellow Brit Polly Stockton on Westwood Poser.

Australia's Sam Griffiths, who was second going into the showjumping, had a fence down to drop to third.

"I'm still celebrating Badminton, so to win Burghley is amazing," said Townend.

He became only the third rider since 1988 to take both top prizes in one year, emulating Ginny Leng and latterly Pippa Funnell, who achieved it six years ago.

Townend opened the event on Friday with a superb dressage test of just 39.8 penalties and then collected just 3.2 penalty points during Saturday's 27-fence cross country test.

He went into the showjumping phase knowing he could afford to have at least one fence down and still triumph.

Then Griffiths, riding Happy Times, brought one fence down in his round, allowing Townend the luxury of being able to make two mistakes and still win - in the end he produced a faultless display.

Stockton also benefited from Griffiths error, climbing to second.

"I knew he had the ability to do well," she said of Westwood Poser's runners-up result.

"But I did wonder if Burghley was a big ask for him, but he just got stuck in and I can't quite believe how far he came up (the leaderboard)."

British team-mate William Fox-Pitt finished sixth aboard Seacookie, while Zara Phillips and Glenbuck finished 22nd.

Townend will now switch his attention to France and the European Championships which take place at Fontainebleau later this month when he is part of a Great Britain team that defends its title.

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
British Equestrian Federation
British Dressage
British Eventing
British Show Jumping Association
International Equestrian Federation
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites