An all-time great

Oliver Townend pilots the superstar Ballaghmor Class to the horse's second Burghley win, six years after his first, and heads an all-British top three with a rising star in second

- PIPPA ROOME

FOR some years now, when asked about Ballaghmor Class as the horse racks up yet another top five-star result, Oliver Townend has replied, “What can I say about him?”

He means, of course, not that he has nothing to say about this truly incredible partner, but that the horse’s record speaks for itself. Last week, the 16-year-old blasted through Burghley to nail his third five-star win. Let us recap the rest of that remarkable CV.

Ballaghmor Class was a fivestar winner on his debut at the level, at Burghley in 2017. Since then, he has won Kentucky 2021 and finished in the top five at five-star on no less than seven other occasions, plus he’s an Olympic team gold medallist.

“I think every event suits ‘Thomas’, but the tougher the better,” said Oliver, summing up why perhaps Burghley has been his happiest hunting ground, with second and third places here as well as two wins.

“He’s a proper event horse. If they brought back long format tomorrow, he’d still come out on top. He’s a fighter and his pedigree and mentality help hugely. Whatever era you put this horse in, he’d win.”

The Irish-bred, owned by Angela Hislop, Val Ryan and Oliver’s right-hand woman Karyn Shuter, is by Courage II, bred by Noel Hickey.

Over the years since he won that first Burghley as a green 10-year-old, Thomas’s grey coat has become increasingly peppered with freckles; he is now so flea-bitten as to be almost chestnut on the top of his angular, strong, athletic body. His long, narrow, serious face has taken on a wise and knowing expression.

He knows his job, he’s the king and he’s seen it all.