Harry Meade

The event rider is in the form of his life, moving up to number six in the world after top placings at the major autumn three-days. Martha Terry finds out more about his formidable string

- Martha Terry

IT was his best five-star result in a decade, a podium finish on what most people viewed as the third string of his three rides. But Harry Meade’s third place at Burghley last month on Cavalier Crystal was no surprise to the rider. In most form assessments, the mare – known at home as Nell – was flying under the radar prior to the event, but Harry had been quietly confident ahead of her five-star debut.

“She’s a real championship type,” says Harry when we meet on the day after Blenheim, where he again finished third on another dark bay mare – Annaghmore Valoner – who seemed to come from nowhere. “Nell isn’t a huge mover, but she’s consistent in the dressage and never underperforms; she’s very reliable cross-country and is as good a showjumper as you can get in eventing.”

Indeed, the 13-year-old, by Jack Of Diamonds out of a Cavalier Royale mare, hasn’t had a rail down for over two years, or any cross-country blips in six years. How had we all missed her?

Much of this is down to Harry’s strategy. He typically uses the national one-day events as training to give the horse confidence, reliability, sure-footedness and what he refers to as the horse’s proficiency in “independent thinking”.

“Cross-country is the one discipline where the majority of a horse’s training is achieved in competition rather than at home, so the manner in which they run at events is so important,” he says.