TOM McEwen made a superb debut at Badminton Horse Trials last year with ex-racehorse partner Dry Old Party, finishing in 19th place with an impressive cross-country round. This year he’s looking to go one better, with two accepted entries, writes Nicki Strong.

Badgerstown-based McEwen will take his chances aboard Dry Old Party and Diesel, both of whom have had promising starts to the season, including strong results in the Advanced over a notoriously tough Belton track.

Of newcomer Diesel, McEwen said: “He’s already completed three-stars at Bramham and Blenheim, so he’s definitely ready to move up to four-star. He’s quite a hot horse so he might find the atmosphere a bit exciting, but he should cope fine with the dimensions of the fences and the dressage movements, so everything is in place.

“I’ve actually had Diesel right from the start – I broke him in and he’s never been ridden by anyone else so it’s a real achievement to get to Badminton with him.

“Dry Old Party will obviously have the benefit of experiencing the event last year – there’s so much going on there and you can familiarise the horse with the surrounding but it looks very different without all the crowds there. They have a new course designer this year (Giuseppe della Chiesa) so it will be a slightly different test but there will still be a Hugh Thomas influence.”

Of his approach to Badminton, McEwen said: “I’m really lucky to have support from Mark Todd, Alex Franklin and Rodney Powell so they’ve been able to pass on their knowledge and experience so I’ve always felt quite prepared.

“I think the horses are going a lot better this time round than they were last year too. They’re all feeling great and jumping really well, although I’ve not really had a really fast run yet, so I’ll be looking forward to it.”

McEwen has 14 horses to compete for the season and has plenty of younger horses coming through. One potential star of the future is Toledo De Kerser, who has completed three double clears from three Novice runs so far this season, including fourth at Gatcombe and a win at South of England earlier in April, finishing on a remarkable dressage score of 21.

McEwen was quietly hopeful about the horse’s future, saying: “I think he could be really smart but I don’t want to jinx it. He’s a lovely horse who has been going very well, but he is quite quirky too. He’s been brilliant so fingers crossed.”

The horse will be stepping up to Intermediate at Withington later this month, and aimed at Tattersalls in Ireland at the end of May.