Armada is one of the cross-country horses in history and she was put down at the age of 20. Owned by Paul and Diana Ridgeon and ridden first by Andrew Nicholson and then by Oliver Townend, the chestnut Spanish sport horse completed 16 CCI4* (now CCI5*) events, taking second place at Badminton in 2014 with Oliver. Armada finished in the top 10 at CCI4* level six times and jumped clear across country with a very fast time on numerous occasions. In total, he earned 2,559 British Eventing points. Bred in Spain by Ramon Beca, he came to Andrew’s yard as a five-year-old, and Andrew sold him to Paul Ridgeon.
Armada won his second ever event – a novice class at Gatcombe – in September 2004. He finished second in the intermediate championships at Gatcombe’s Festival of British Eventing as a seven-year-old and was third in the CCI3* (now CCI4*-L) classes at both Punchestown and Blenheim the following year, aged just eight.Armada and Andrew were eighth at Burghley in 2008 and achieved a host of other top placings at the highest level, but Andrew and Paul offered the ride to Oliver at the end of 2011. “He had unbelievable power and an amazing length of stride, which made the cross-country, especially in his early days, feel effortlessly easy,” said Andrew. “You had to sit on him across the country to be able to appreciate the power and the feeling you got.”
Oliver rode the son of the thoroughbred stallion Fines to eighth place on their first attempt at CCI4* level together at Luhmühlen in 2012 and was fourth at Burghley that autumn. Their biggest victory was in the CIC3* (now CCI4*-S) at Burnham Market in 2014. As Armada became older, he became less careful in the showjumping arena; had his prowess in that phase at a three-day event matched his brilliance across the country, he would have achieved even more success at four-star level. Oliver said: “He had a wild side; he could get excited very easily and his blood boiled quickly, but he was very quiet and gentle outside a competition environment and at home.
He was very sensitive, and almost timid until you put him on a cross-country course.“He was a different class across the country. You couldn’t have built a track too big for him. Very few horses ever made the time in the Open Championships at Gatcombe then, and in 2013 he was 10 seconds inside and I was slowing down for the final half-minute. I remember him doing a five-stride combination in three strides there so easily. In his heyday, you could do anything on him – I’ve never ridden one like him across the country.”
