JONELLE Price was hoping for a tougher cross country stage at Badminton Horse Trials to stand a chance of finishing higher.

The Marlborough-based rider and her steed Classic Moet had to settle for a 10th place finish after having one pole down in the show jumping stage.

Although 27 riders failed to complete the cross country stage, the time limit put on the test did not seem to trouble many and only one pole separated the 10 riders behind Michael Jung going into the final day.

“I was really pleased with the round,” said Price after her show jumping performance. Obviously it would have been great to have jumped clear but one down is not the end of the world and is a little bit unlucky.

“When you have a horse that is not a complete out and out winner you are a little bit reliant on how the competition unfolds and I needed not so many to be in time on the cross country.

“She might jump a clear round, she wants to be careful in her brain but she is a little bit more suited to Burghley where the cross country round you are not going to have so many in the time and the field is a bit more spread.

“Here you have got 10 places split by one pole, you don’t really want to see that at four star level.

“She will have a little holiday now and then I guess it depends what happens with the Olympics.

“Realistically she will be prepared for Burghley and maybe as a backup for Rio should she be needed.”

Fellow Marlborough-based Kiwi Jesse Campbell admitted his horse, Kaapachino, had his flaws highlighted during the duo’s first outing at Badminton.

“Kaapachino was getting pretty tired out there and that show jumping course was big and unrelenting,” said Campbell, who fell from 10th place after the dressage stage to 33rd.

“He puts everything into his cross country. He pulled both front shoes yesterday, one was after the new pond and the other after the double brushes but he still went four or five minutes on his front feet.

“I just shows that you really need a top quality horse to win here. He is a great horse and he tries so hard but he would be low on talent and sometimes you just need those natural jumping horses and just ping on the last day.

“I don’t think it was the lack of skill that kept us down but the reality is he is a New Zealand thoroughbred that I got when I was 20 years old.

“We never dreamt of getting here, we got here because we have a great relationship.

“Kaapachino much prefers show jumping before cross country so we will look to do the Masters Series if we can get into those.”