Tim Price and accomplice Vitali rubber-stamped their status as one of the best dressage pairings the Defender Burghley Horse Trials has ever seen on day two of the famed 5* event.

The pair combined for a record-low dressage score of 18.7 last year and entered the Burghley top-10 for a third time this year with a score of 22.3 marks.

That leaves the Beaminster based rider in third place heading into the weekend, raising hopes of a second Burghley triumph for Price and first 5* win of any kind for powerful gelding Vitali.  

“I’m very pleased,” said Price. “We know he’s good at dressage so you put a bit of pressure on yourself to do justice for your horse.

“You can’t quibble a score of 22, I found him more conventional this time. Everyone sees what goes on in the ring but last year he was very funny beforehand and he was nice and normal this time.

“He went in and did what he did so well, which is a nice flowing test. To pick a few holes there is doable but he tried really hard and he was really good fun.”

Ros Canter holds first and second on the leaderboard in Stamford with Izilot Dhi and Lordships Graffalo, while Price’s second mount, Viscount Viktor, is far from out of things in 16th place.

That means two attempts at the gruelling cross-country phase but the approach for each horse could not be more different.

“One is very experienced and jumps through the flags and the other one is green and doesn’t know who he is or what he is yet,” said Price.

“Viscount Viktor hasn’t won a novice in his life let along anything but that’s nothing against him, I’ve got him here for a reason and I believe in him a lot, so it’s just to give him a good experience and it could be a little bit faster if it’s feeling good.

“Vitali has been there and got the t-shirt, I just need to look after him, do the job and come home good.”

Vitali has forfeited first place during the show-jumping at both of the last two 5*s in the UK, at Burghley last year and Badminton earlier this year, and Price hopes it’s only a matter of time before he breaks his duck.

“I know there’s big success in him and we want to produce those so naturally we’ve been working on the whole thing,” he added.

“We’ll wait and see. He’s jumping very well at the moment and I’ve engaged quite a few people, we had six months since the disappointment of the last building into the next, so during that I do some homework and there are a lot of people with a wealth of knowledge around you can pick bits from.”

Defender Burghley Horse Trials (5-8 September 2024) has been a major international sporting and social event for over 50 years. It attracts the world's top equestrians and is attended by vast and enthusiastic crowds. For more information visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk