IT was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s Show for Highworth’s Paul Tapner at the Chatsworth International Horse Trials – but the newly-crowned Badminton champion insists patience will be his virtue this summer.

Tapner arrived in the Peak District with confidence coursing through his veins after claiming the prestigious four-star title onboard Inonothing earlier this month.

With a packed campaign ahead of him, the 34-year-old opted to rotate his stable, riding Tiger Flynne to 10th and Kilfinnie II to eleventh at the three-star event – which doubled up as the only British HSBC FEI World Cup qualifier this year.

And despite failing to add another trophy to his cabinet in Derbyshire, Tapner expects his decision to pay dividends in the months to come.

“I wanted both horses to be competitive because that is how I like my stable to be and they will only have improved for the experience,” said Tapner - who is based at Wickstead Farm Equestrian Centre.

“Just because we may not have repeated the result of Badminton doesn’t mean that we aren’t still on track.

“As far as I am concerned everything is A-okay and we are looking forward to hopefully a successful summer.

“Both these horses will be going to Luhmuhlen and Kilfinnie will do the four-star and Tiger Flynne will do the three-star so this should have helped them.”

Australian Sam Griffiths on Happy Times claimed the honours in the Peak District, finishing on 51.8 points – 6.2 clear of Lucy Wiegersma and Woodfalls Inigo Jones in second and Fiona Hobby and Roma ML on 60.7 in third.

Tiger Flynne and Kilfinnie II were both down the field following the dressage, registering 57.3 and 57.0 respectively, they added 14.8 and 12.4 in the cross country before finishing with a clear run and four penalty points in the show jump.

But despite being the only rider to complete all three rounds with two horses, Tapner admitted he was still wondering what might have been.

“In the show jump Tiger Flynne put in a great run to get the clear round and Kilfinnie II had a great run in finishing with one down,” added Tapner.

“He took the course very well but I was a bit worried that I had a taken the time a little early so I pushed it a little too much.

“In the end he took one of the bars off the last double and got the four penalty points which are always annoying when you make an incorrect decision.”

HSBC is a platinum sponsor of the FEI – the highest level of sponsorship within the organisation. This is the third year of HSBC sponsorship of the HSBC FEI Classics and HSBC FEI World Cup.