Badminton 2018 - HTSG Scholar, Alex Bragg

Alex and the rest of Team Bragg Eventing set off to Badminton with high hopes for his two rides, Mrs Nuttall and Mr & Mrs Roe's Redpath Ransom and the huge Zagreb owned by Mrs Sally Ellicott.  The first trot up went without a hitch with Alex looking very smart courtesy of Timothy Foxx and Mackenzie & George - we feel he could have easily won the Hiho Silver sponsored Best Dressed competition.

Thursday morning was an early start as Alex was drawn to go fifth on Zagreb who did a great dressage test, looking relaxed and happy. 

Photo © Fi Boughton

Photo © Sweet-Images Photography / Hiho Silver

Photo © MDR Photo

Redpath Ransom was a little tense with the atmosphere heightened as it always is on Friday afternoon. Alex said ‘Both my boys tried really hard on their dressage. Zagreb performed a consistent test for a competitive sub 30 score. Redpath Ransom’s nerves got the better of him and the tension prevented him from picking up good marks’.

We saw Alex again on Friday evening along with fellow scholar Laura Collett as they were presented with their Training Scholar awards at our Cross-Country Preview Evening. Their humour was well received by the crowd, who valued their insight into the course.

Photo © MDR Photo

Photo © MDR Photo

Saturday dawned bright, we bumped into Alex walking the course and he was happy and looking forward to the day. Zagreb was early out on the course and stormed confidently round, unfortunately breaking a pin at Fence 18. It was great to see them through the finish with a smile.

Alex & Zargreb - Photos © MDR Photo

The great sadness of the afternoon was the catastrophic injury to Redpath Ransom on the flat towards the end of the course - until then he had given Alex an amazing ride around the course with Alex really getting the crowd cheering at the lake. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to the entire team.

Alex & Redpath Ransom - Photos © MDR Photo

Alex bravely presented Zagreb for the second horse inspection on Sunday morning. Simmone and Heather had Zagreb looking fantastic and he passed with no problems. The show jumping course caused many problems and was very tight for time. Zagreb jumped a great round for just 4 faults and the crowd appreciated Alex’s obvious pleasure with his horse.

Photo © Fi Boughton

Overall, it was not the Badminton the team were hoping for but we are delighted to hear of new horses joining the team in the coming weeks and look forward to the yard visit to meet them all in June (keep an eye on Facebook and here on the website for more info).