THE LAND ROVER BURGHLEY HORSE TRIALS
2006

Could he? Would he? 'He' being Australia's Triple Olympic Gold Medallist, Andrew Hoy, who in seven magnificent days in May won on Master Monarch in Kentucky and Moon Fleet at Badminton to give himself the chance of landing the $250,000 Rolex Grand Slam.

Setting out to emulate Pippa Funnell's unique 2003 achievement, Andrew could not have wished for a better start on Moon Fleet, leading the field after the dressage phase, with his other ride, Mr Pracatan, a handy sixth. At this stage it looked like a 'Mr and Mrs Show' with Bettina Hoy on Peaceful Warrior in third, Lucinda Fredericks on Headley Brittania a close second and her husband Clayton competitively fourth on Nullarbor.

Under blue skies and in front of a massive Cross Country crowd, two-time Burghley winner, Andrew Hoy, impressively mastered Captain Mark Phillips' 32 fence challenge: just one second under the optimum on Moon Fleet and spot on time with Mr Pracatan. As others faltered, Lucinda Fredericks on the tiny 15.2 hand Headley Brittania followed their personal best in the dressage with a stunning round to finish a single show jumping fence behind Andrew and Moon Fleet.

With just four clear rounds as the top twelve (five for Australia) prepared to face Di Boddy's show jumping track, the crowd sensed that this might not necessarily be plain sailing for Andrew.

DVD Info

Region: 2
Running Time: 104 minutes