10:38am Thursday 2nd September 2010
CHIPPING Sodbury eventer Nick Gauntlett is adamant less will equal more at the Burghley Horse Trials as he bids to break into the top 20 in the Lincolnshire countryside, writes Howard Lloyd.
The 32-year-old makes the trip to Burghley, which acts as the penultimate leg of the HSBC FEI Classics series, for the first time since 2005.
Gauntlett was forced to retire Arthurs Word on that occasion and will be hoping history doesn’t repeat itself as he prepares to ride Rocket Science this year.
The Chipping Sodbury eventer has ridden Rocket Science just three times over the past two months but believes that will be a help and not a hindrance at Burghley.
"All of the stuff I’ve been doing with my horse, Rocket Science, has gone pretty well so I’m happy with everything," said Gauntlett.
"The horse is one that does not need to be ridden all that often but seems to do well whenever he does compete.
"He is relatively new at this level of competing but I’m confident he can do pretty well. He has not ridden a great deal recently but he doesn’t need to be ridden too much.
"It’s like human athletes - some need to train constantly to stay in good physical shape, others need to be rested more in order to stay fresh, and he is one that needs to be kept fresh.
"Burghley is a fantastic event. It’s run and organised very well, it has a fantastic course and you are looked after very well there too.
"I am perhaps a tiny bit nervous because obviously you want to do well at big events but there is a lot of excitement there too."
Gauntlett will make his third appearance on the HSBC FEI Classics series this year having competed at the four-star Badminton and Luhmuhlen Horse Trials back in April and June.
He finished a best of 21st on Chapel Amble at Badminton but having also ended 33rd on Rocket Science he knows there is plenty of room for improvement at Burghley.
"All my preparations have gone fairly well, or at least I hope they have," he added.
"Having said that, there are a few areas where we have had problems and we need to work on them.
"At Badminton, Rocket Science did pretty well overall and I was pleased with his performance but we didn’t do brilliantly at the show jumping and so we need to work on that."
l The HSBC FEI ClassicsT unites the top end of the international eventing circuit - namely the five four-star competitions across the world. The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is the penultimate event in the HSBC FEI ClassicsT.
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