May, 2022
A brilliant closing round on the final day of Badminton Horse Trials in the UK, has given Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and the Irish-bred gelding Colorado Blue an excellent eighth place finish. O’Connor, who finished 13th at the Tokyo Olympic Games with the Salty Syndicate-owned Colorado Blue, was in 58th place after the opening Dressage phase. A perfect clear inside the time in Saturday’s Cross Country, followed by another clear Show Jumping round with just 0.4 time penalties in the final phase, saw O’Connor climb the leaderboard and finish on a final score of 36.3.
Britain’s Laura Collett and London 52 are the 2022 Badminton Champions. An outstanding performance saw them add just 0.4 time penalties to their Dressage score of 21.0 to claim the title, while Rosalind Canter (GBR) finished as runner-up with Lordships Graffalo on 26.0.
