Babylon back to form at Blair
Land Rover Blair Castle Horse Trials, Perthshire
THE striking Selle Français gelding Babylon De Gamma returned to form with a win in the CCI4*-S.
The 11-year-old, who was not only ruled out of the Tokyo Olympics owing to a sprain, but went on to have hoof surgery in the winter which cost him the entire spring season, showed his rider Astier Nicolas exactly “what he had in his guts”, as he skipped round Alec Lochore’s “meaty track”, seven seconds inside the optimum time.
“He was meant to do Badminton, but didn’t come back fast enough. He did an intermediate and this is his first CCI4* this year,” said the Frenchman, who co-owns Babylon De Gamma with Benedicte Nicolas de Monval and Etienna and Marielle Grivot.
The combination are no strangers to Blair Castle; they won the class in 2019 and were second last year behind Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. But this experience meant Astier knew what kind of
