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Interviews at Badminton following the dressage phase on Friday
First Melanie Wilder, a true amateur rider from Llandovery
Melanie
comments, "I am really thrilled with him because he can be very excitable and
tense in the dressage and he can often canter through most of his trot work.
Today though he was really relaxed, he made couple of mistakes but I am really
not worried about them I am just really pleased with him he didn't blow. He was
on the leg, really enjoying himself. Normally he just seems to rush through
like he wants to get the whole thing over and done with. I was so nervous about
getting out there, I haven't watched anybody I haven't been into the grandstand
- I just didn't know what it was going to be like when I walked out there, but
it was brilliant I really enjoyed it. It's a great atmosphere. I did expect him
to be nervous. He started off a little bit tense and he broke in his first
movement, but he got quite a lot of 8's and I am thrilled with his first 4*
test. To be getting lots of 8's and a good mark we got good marks at the end,
60.7 penalties, so I'm pleased."
Interview with Matt
Ryan following his cross-country round on Saturday
Matt Ryan and Bonza Puzzle were in 13th place
after dressage with a penalty score of 41.9 penalties. Within minutes of him
completing his cross-country round Kath Rhodes caught up with him he'd gone
clear but 14.4 time faults gave him a score of 56.3 penalties....
"I'm really pleased with that round. I was held before I was
allowed to start for a good ten minutes, or at least that's what it felt like,
due to an accident on the course. It felt like a hell of a long time. I'm a
bloke that suffers from nerves and having to wait like that was not good. Puzzle has really good speed and stamina but
the Australian selectors have always questioned that he is not fast enough or
hasn't got the staying power. I didn't push him out too hard early on the
course because I knew the ground was going to be sapping. Although the ground
was not wet, it's a little holding and Puzzle does not like the soft ground. So
I played it careful as I didn't want to end with a really knackered, tired
horse. I wanted to make sure that I had some energy in reserve. On the way
round I kept on testing, a little tap down the shoulders, me saying, "have you
still got some speed there?" But he kept coming back, basically saying, ‘yes
I'm fine'. He finished so strongly that I know now I could have pushed earlier
a little harder - but that's with hindsight. He's coped really well with this
softer ground and maybe I have got him fitter than I realised so I can only be
delighted with that. I took just one long route at Huntsmans Close, Fence 6, which
I'd planned when I'd walked the course. Sometimes when you actually riding, you
change your mind as I know long routes are going to waste valuable time, at
this fence around about 10 seconds. We had a bit of a hiccup at the last part
of the Lancer Village, Fence 23-25, I saw a shocker of a stride to the first of
the houses, he scrambled all over it and thank goodness for him, he stood up and
jumped the next element. It was supposed to be a curving 5 stride line, but I thought
there was an alternative, which I knew would give me more time, so we took that
way, which meant that I then I had to do a big loop back on to the third of the
houses in the Badminton Village, which probably cost me another 10 seconds,
annoying but there it is, we were clear. I am really; really pleased with the
horse he tried so hard".
At the time if the interview Matt was in fifth place but
with some strong riders still to come. Matt said, "I'll drop lower by the end
of today, but even so I didn't come here to come fifth. I reckon that last
bloomer I made at the Village fence, is going to cost me dearly. I know that if
you are going to win Badminton you cannot afford to make those sort of errors.
Puzzle is a really good show jumper so unless something goes really wrong I
should leave all the show jumps up tomorrow. If I can do that, hopefully that should
push me up a little bit further into the placings. What is really important is
that I impress the selectors as they are all here this weekend. I would love to
win Badminton, but more importantly I hope the selectors like what they saw and
that this performance gives me a good shot for Olympic selection. I can only
hope that the selectors will think this pair are real survivors, no matter how
tough or hard those conditions - we can rely on Matt. I cannot believe that the
course in Hong Kong is going to be anywhere
near as tough as this. The trend these days is for bendy, twisty lines into
fences and so we'll have to train our horses to do those really sharp turns. I know
I have made a complaint that sometimes I feel it is not fair on the horses as I
like the idea of the horses being rewarded and they can feel good if they go
the direct way. But we'll just have to adjust our training and practice so many
tight turns that it just becomes second nature to them."
Matt finished cross-country day in 10th place. He
was the highest place Australian rider as Andrew Hoy retired on the course and
Clayton Fredericks, Janelle Pitts and Stuart Tinney all retired on
cross-country.
Show-jumping on
Sunday
Just
one fence down in the show-jumping saw Matt Ryan move up the leader board to a
very creditable 8th place but he was just not close enough to
trouble the eventual winner Frenchman Nicholas Touzaint riding Hildago de
L'Ile. The competition proved really difficult with not a single competitor
finishing on their dressage score.
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