IN 2018, David Doel pushed a tired, backward-thinking Galileo Nieuwmoed up the final hill in Gatcombe's novice championships to finish third. “I remember thinking, 'How am I ever going to get this horse round bigger events?'” he says.
This year, David piloted the same horse to second at Burghley - universally acknowledged as the hilliest, physically toughest five-star in the world - with one of only two clears inside the time across country. It's quite a progression in just five years.
The pair's partnership got off to an inauspicious start when Joy Dawes convinced a reluctant David to take Galileo to sell for her. The 30-year-old owes much of the horse's turnaround to his dressage trainer, Adam Kemp.
“Adam was pretty instrumental in helping me get him in front of my leg and actually going somewhere,” said David.
The rider knew Galileo, now owned by Gillian Jonas, would be competitive at the top level from his eight-year-old season in 2019, when he won an advanced at Aston-le-Walls and was second in the CCI4*-S at Haras du Pin.
The fact he achieved that runner-up placing in
