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William Fox-Pitt and Zara Phillips each place two horses in the top twenty. Zara is, of course, the daughter of Capt. Mark Phillips, the US Eventing Coach, and his former wife, The Princess Royal.

Three (Touzaint, Wiegersma and Fox-Pitt) out of the top four after Cross Country held their places. Polly Stockton dropped from third to sixth with twelve Show Jumping faults.

FINAL RESULTS 2008

1. Nicolas Touzaint (FRA), Hidalgo de L'Ile - 48.4 (4 faults SJ) (Nicolas and Hidalgo de L'Ile are pictured at the right above with the Badminton Trophy.)
2. Lucy Wiegersma, Shaabrak - 49.8 (4 faults SJ) (Lucy and Shaabrak are pictured at the left below.)
3. William Fox-Pitt, Ballincoola - 52.1 (4 faults SJ)
4. Caroline Powell (NZL), Lenamore - 52.8 (DCSJ)
5. Sharon Hunt, Tankers Town - 54.9 (DCSJ)
6. Polly Stockton, Tom Quigley - 59.7 (12 jumping, 1 time SJ)
7. Nicola Wilson, Opposition Buzz - 59.8 (4 faults SJ)
8. Matt Ryan (AUS), Bonza Puzzle - 60.3 (4 faults SJ)
9. Daisy Dick, Hope Street - 61.3 (4 faults SJ)
10. Georgie Davies, Fachoudette - 61.6 (12 faults SJ)
11. Mary King, Apache Sauce - 64.5 (8 faults SJ)
12. Oliver Townend, Coup de Coeur - 64.6 (12 jumping, 3 time SJ)
13. Harry Meade, Midnight Dazzler - 66.2 (8 faults SJ)
14. Rodney Powell, Zin Zan II - 73.4 (4 jumping, 1 time SJ)
15. Rodolphe Scherer (FRA), Fairfax - 74.3 (4 faults SJ)
16. Zara Phillips, Glenbuck - 78.2 (16 jumping, 5 time SJ)
17. Annabel Wigley (NZL) BLACK DRUM - 78.7 16 jumping, 6 time SJ)
18. William Fox-Pitt, Tamarillo - 78.9 (8 faults SJ)
19. Zara Phillips, Ardfield Magic Star- 79.8 (8 jumping, 1 time SJ)
20. Joe Meyer (NZL), Ease On Fire - 79.9 (12 faults SJ)

The following article is courtesy of an FEI Press Release:

04/05/2008 - HSBC FEI CLASSICS 2008 - PRESS RELEASE NO. 4
FINAL DAY
Nicolas Touzaint and Hidalgo de L'Ile won the second leg of the 2008 HSBC FEI Classics at the Mitsubishi Motors Horse Trials in Badminton today.

TOUZAINT TRIUMPHS AT BADMINTON......
Nicolas Touzaint held on to win the second leg of the 2008 HSBC Classics in a nailbiting finish to the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials this afternoon. And the reigning European Champion made history as the first-ever Frenchman to take the title and the first European to hold the trophy since 1951.

In the emotional aftermath he galloped around the arena with Hildago de L'Ile with fist raised - and then he burst into tears. "To win this has always been a dream" he said, "it is just as important to me as the European titles and the Olympic medal - I'm very, very happy" he said.

Lucy Wiegersma filled second place with Shabraak and William Fox-Pitt took third for the home side with Ballincoola, and to round up the internationalism New Zealand's Caroline Powell, whose performances with both of her rides were impressive, slotted into fourth with the Lenamore.

This was a Badminton to remember for all the right reasons, and there was an air of euphoria at the Gloucestershire showground. As if Saturday's drama-filled cross-country phase had not been exciting enough,
today's final show jumping test went right down to the wire but, despite a single error, the man who will celebrate his 28th birthday next Saturday held fast.

The 13-fence track, created jointly by course-designer Jon Doney and Technical Delegate Guiseppe della Chiesa, proved troublesome and only three of the 54 final phase starters managed to leave it intact.

Mary King showed them all how it should be done with a great round from the 11 year old gelding Imperial Cavalier who had been going so superbly until decanting her at the penultimate cross-country fence yesterday, but she was the only one of the morning group to keep a clean sheet.

As the top 20 took their turn in the afternoon the clears proved just as hard to achieve and 13 entered the ring before Britain's Sharon Hunt found the key with Tankerstown only for Powell and Lenamore to follow suit. Lying eighth and seventh respectively they piled the pressure on the remaining
six and Oliver Townend lost his grip on sixth spot with three fences on the floor and three time penalties. His Badminton completion was still quite an achievement for the 25 year old Briton who was a member of the winning European Championship team at Pratoni del Vivaro in Italy last year however, because he broke his collarbone just two weeks ago and was battling agonising pain by the time he crossed the line with Coup
de Coeur yesterday.

Georgie Davies was next to go with Fachoudette who was one of only two horses to stay clear on cross-country day but three show jumps down sent them plummeting down the order and with just four to go the spotlight fell on William Fox-Pitt and Ballincoola. A single mistake from this experienced
partnership gave the last three some leeway; but, when Polly Stockton and Tom Quigley, who recorded the second of those cross-country clears, collected 14 faults he moved up to third.

Lucy Wiegersma had a powerful support-group in the warm-up ring including show jumping trainer Peter Murphy, long-time coach Caroline Creighton and British Team Manager Yogi Breisner so she was under no illusions about what she had to do. Her father was also on hand - "he's always very free with his advice!" the 31 year old rider from Cornwall
said afterwards. "Remember you're a Cornish bird and ride like a Cornish show jumper" he told her as she entered the arena. Hitting the second fence she thought to herself - "Oh, no, I've another 15 to jump yet!" but she kept her cool to add no more and now, although she had given Touzaint
a one-fence breathing space, he knew his back was up against the wall.

However this is a young man with great self-belief. He first won the individual European title at Punchestown in Ireland in 2003, took team gold at the Olympic Games in Athens the following year, and won team silver at the Europeans in Blenheim in 2005 before taking his second European title last year. Today's ride, Hidalgo de L'Ile however, has a checkered history in the show jumping ring - at Fontainbleau earlier this season hitting five fences in the closing stages. So what had he done to improve the horse's performance in this discipline in the intervening period? "I changed the bit from a double-bridle to a pelham and I kept my fingers crossed!" he said.
When the second element of the double fell you could hear a pin drop in the
Badminton arena, but he would make no further mistakes and when he galloped through the finish he threw his arms in the air in sheer delight.

Badminton bounced back in style this year. There were only two horse falls in Saturday's cross-country phase - dressage leader Andrew Hoy's Moonfleet hitting the deck early on the track at Huntsmans Close and
second-placed Ruth Edge taking a ducking in the Lake a few fences later; but, there were plenty of dismounted riders. One of these was Dee Kennedy who took a nasty fall from from Big El at the Quarry at fence four and Event Director, Hugh Thomas, said yesterday that he expected the rider to remain at nearby Frenchay Hospital for "a few days".

Thomas admitted that some tough lessons were learned following the 2007
Badminton fiasco when 22 riders, one-third of the field, pulled out due to poor ground conditions. A lot of work has gone into the course since then however and the much improved cross-country going this year was widely praised by the riders.

In reflective mood Thomas said today "Yes, the ground was good and in two to three years it will be even better. Last year was very traumatic, but I'm very proud of all my team. Out of adversity we have all drawn strength and I believe we have put Badminton back where it belongs" he pointed out.

Today it belonged to a Frenchman who now shares pole position with Kentucky winner Philip Dutton on the HSBC FEI Classics leaderboard going into the third round of the series in Luhmuhlen, Germany next month......

The following article is courtesy of the Badminton website:

French phenomenon Nicolas Touzaint became the first Frenchman ever to win The Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials. Tears of both relief and disbelief flowed down his face as he and Hildago De L’Ile performed several fast victory laps and the French National Anthem was played here for the first time. “Just to compete at Badminton is a dream and I never for one moment imagined I could win – although I had hoped to finish in the top five,” said Nicolas. “Many have doubted this horse but now he is a true Champion.”

Just as yesterday’s cross country, show jumping proved equally influential – prior to the top ten Mary King and Imperial Cavalier was the only combination to have jumped clear without time penalties over Jon Doney’s course. Former British team members Sharon Hunt and Tankers Town in eighth place after cross country really put the pressure on the top after the pair jumped clear – immediately followed by the New Zealand combination of Caroline Powell and the feisty grey Lenamore. Oliver Townend (GBR) and Georgie Davies (GBR) both dropped out of contention with three fences down a piece while fourth placed William Fox-Pitt and Ballincoola added just four faults to their score sheet.

For British rider Lucy Wiegersma and Shaabrak it was so close. The Devonshire based combination had an early four faults and the capacity crowd held their breath as she negotiated the remaining fences – holding her nerve to leave them standing. The four faults gave Nicolas Touzaint a margin for error which he used at the final element of the treble combination. Determination was written over the 27-year-old’s face as he practically lifted Hildago over the fences. While the 13-year old Selle Francais began to flatten down the final line a supreme effort over the last left them with just the four faults on their card to finish just 1.4 penalties ahead of Lucy and Shaabrak. “When I had the third fence down I really thought that was it – there is still quite a way to go at that stage and I was surprised at how tacky the ground was,” said Lucy, “But I am delighted with him he has jumped his heart out.”

After a dressage test that left them in 17th place William Fox-Pitt was delighted to find himself in the top three with Ballincoola.