Libby Law Photography/Supplied
New Zealand rider Tim Price and Vitali made history in the dressage at the Burghley Horse Trials.
New Zealand eventing star Tim Price finished fourth at the Burghley Horse Trials on Monday morning (NZT), after he finished just off the CCI5* podium with Vitali.
The Kiwi combo had three rails down in the showjumping to finish on a final tally of 38.7 penalty points.
It proved a roller coaster of an event for the world No 1, who with the 13-year-old Vitali set a new record in the dressage at Burghley with their 18.7, the first sub-20 score at the 5* event.
They still led after the cross country and came into the showjumping arena with a rail in hand, but it wasn’t to be.
“It wasn’t the ending I was after but if someone had offered me a top five at the start of the week I would have been very happy to accept it, so you have to look at it that way,” Price said. “There were some real highlights through the first two phases.”
It was a disappointed Price who faced the media after his round. “The showjumping is his Achilles heel,” he said in reference to Vitali.
“I was desperate for the worm to turn and for us to have our first really good result in the showjumping department.”
Instead, he said it was back to the drawing board to figure out the “funny little fish” of a horse Vitali was.
Price and Vitali were third at Burghley last year. Price last won the CCI5* in 2018 aboard Ringwood Skyboy.
