‘Riders hate it – but it's here to stay'

Mark Phillips on the frangible penalties given at Tokyo and Bicton

- Pippa Roome

HAVING been retired from five-star course-design at Luhmühlen and Burghley after my 2019 track in Lincolnshire, it was with some trepidation that I took on the five-star Burghley replacement at Bicton, which had to be put on in 11 weeks instead of 11 months!

I learnt a lot, though, from the four-star tracks in June, especially the effects of the Devon terrain. Sadly, not enough of the riders learnt that same lesson: a few were found lacking on the fitness front.

Luckily, all thought the cross-country course, which was beautifully presented by the team, asked five-star questions, even though it lacked some of the massive galloping questions seen at other five-stars.

However, the terrain more than made up for those big efforts and some definitely underestimated the cumulative effort of the questions. Also, nearly half the fences had a jumpable width of 6ft or less, which meant riders had to apply a different sort of concentration.

OPINION

PART OF THE SKILL