GAINING victory in the closing moments, British rider Laura Collett and Mr Bass emerged as the victors in a close fought CIC3*.

The former young horse world champions have fulfilled all their early promise, and by recording one of the fastest rounds of the day, turned the tables on overnight leaders Caroline Powell and Up Up and Away. The winning duo was scoring for the first time at this level, and Collett was especially pleased with her cross-country run.

“I tried a different bit today as he can be a little argumentative,” she explained. “I was then worried that I would have too much say and he might not try so hard, but luckily it worked and he was awesome.”

Although Collett now fancies the German-bred as a possible European prospect, she revealed that she almost sold him a few years ago. “I’ve only got him now because he failed the vet,” she added. “So we then decided to keep him to run ourselves and see what happens – so he doesn’t owe me anything.”

The long format CCI3* at Bramham is next on the agenda for this talented son of Carrico who was sourced in Germany as a four-year-old.

Hot on Collett’s heels was the industrious Oliver Townend, who moved up from an opening seventh spot with previous Ballindenisk winner Cooley SRS. Some rather inconsistent dressage marks had left Townend playing catch up from the start on 46.2, but two foot-perfect jumping performances promoted them to second.

“For the test he did I felt we were a bit robbed in the dressage,” Townend said. “But I was thrilled with the other two phases, especially his show jumping round. He already has his CCI qualification, so we will stick to the short format classes for the immediate future.”

Bred by John Fitzhenry, the 10-year-old Cooley SRS (by Ramiro B) was a graduate of the 2011 Go For Gold sale, where he was bought from Stevie Smith by Richard Sheane.

As overnight leader on 43.9, Caroline Powell had to have been a bit disappointed to add an expensive six time faults to her winning mark, but she was nevertheless delighted with her promising Puissance-sired Up Up and Away. Bred by Marie Creighton, and sourced from George Russell as a four-year-old, Up Up and Away qualified for the Burghley young horse final the following year.

“He’s been a bit on and off for the last couple of years, but he’s now just starting to come into his own,” she said. Bramham is next on the agenda for this smart gelding, who is out of the grade B jumping mare Coolmore Frolic.

BUSHMAN BOWS OUT

Although Irish riders just missed out on the podium positions, they clustered well to fill the next three placings.

Sam Watson could barely ask for a better last run to fill fourth with Horseware Bushman (52.6), from Sarah Ennis who was also clear but slower aboard BLM Diamond Delux (54.6), and Cathal Daniels with the improving OLS Back Chat (55.7).

It was an especially emotional moment for Watson who summed up his thoughts when saying: “I wanted him to go out at his best, and today he was brilliant. He means more to us as a family than anyone will ever know.”

The leaderboard was first turned on its head, when top contender Pippa Funnell was forced to withdraw both her horses due to her earlier fall. Her absence left the door wide open, and although the shorter format course did not cause anything like the trouble as in the earlier CCI3* class, it was not without incident.

Lying handily in fourth spot, Izzy Taylor walked home when Briarlands Birdsong incurred two refusals in the first part of the track, while Sarah Ennis (Shanbo Queen) and Georgia Bale ( Step Forward) both added 20 penalties at the influential water complex two from home.