Badminton glory for county star
Monday 11th May 2009, 1:33PM BST.
Shropshire-based equestrian star Oliver Townend was today celebrating after winning the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials.
Townend, who moved into stables near Ellesmere during the winter, saw off the challenge of British Olympian William Fox-Pitt in a thrilling finish.
Townend – Britain’s first Badminton winner since Pippa Funnell in 2005 – scooped £60,000 for his efforts with his horse Flint Curtis, less than six months after landing the inaugural £100,000 Express Eventing crown at the Millennium Stadium on the same horse.
“It’s fantastic,” said Townend, of his Badminton triumph at the Duke of Beaufort’s estate in Gloucestershire. “It means the world to me.”
He was also delighted with the performance of his horse.
“I knew he would do it, somehow. I knew last November that he could win it, and now that he has won it, I am still dreaming.
“I know him inside out, and I knew if I did the right things then he would pull it off.
“It is an indescribable feeling.
Flint is a very special horse – we have a very good partnership.”
Read the full story in today’s Shropshire Star
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