5 things not to miss on the first day of Badminton dressage – an all-time great, a long-awaited debut and more

The first day of the Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage sparkles brightly ahead of us on Thursday 8 May and we can’t wait to get started with this year’s British spring classic.

Read on to find out what to look out for as the competition gets underway…

1. The four-time five-star winner. The action starts thick and fast tomorrow morning and third into the arena is Ballaghmor Class, ridden by Oliver Townend. He’s by far the most experience horse in the field, with four wins at five-star to his name, six other top-five placings at the level and an Olympic team gold medal. “Thomas” is 18 now, but dispelled any retirement rumours after he missed the spring season last year by winning Maryland 5 Star in the autumn. Nonetheless, we won’t be seeing this wonderful grey too many more times, so let’s savour it while we can.

2. Another Olympic gold medallist. One of the last to go on Thursday will be Tom McEwen on JL Dublin – team gold medallists from Paris and two-time Kentucky Three-Day Event runners-up. The pair start as second favourites (behind their Olympic team-mates Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo) and data analytics experts EquiRatings give them a 14% win chance.

3. Last year’s Thursday leaders. Bubby Upton and Cola took top spot after the first day last year and held onto second at the end of the Badminton Horse Trials dressage. Since then, Bubby – who is still only 26 – has gained more experience and she is also further on in her recovery from a serious spinal injury that occurred in 2023. Cola is at his seventh five-star, with five of the previous six having yielded top-15 placings.

4. The world champion’s Badminton debut. It’s been long-awaited but Yasmin Ingham, Britain’s 2022 individual world gold medallist, finally comes to her first Badminton this week. Piloting Rehy DJ, who she’s partnered since young rider days, she will be under slightly less pressure than if she was riding her team horse Banzai Du Loir, but don’t discount “Piglet”, who has twice been third at Luhmühlen Horse Trials five-star.

5. The judging. It’s always fascinating to see how the scores shake down. Are the ground jury marking high or low? Are they consistently putting the same pairs up or are they at odds with each other? Are there any movements where their different viewpoints are resulting in quite varying marks? This year, the people in the hot seats are France’s ground jury president Xavier Le Sauce, Britain’s Nick Burton and the USA’s Robert Stevenson.

How to watch Badminton Horse Trials

If you want to watch the live action from Badminton Horse Trials from the comfort of your home, wherever you are in the world, you will need to subscribe to Badminton TV. This year, Badminton TV has teamed up with ClipMyHorse.TV, but you do not need a full ClipMyHorse.TV subscription to watch Badminton – you can just subscribe to Badminton TV for £21.99. Go to clipmyhorse.tv/en_GB/badminton to subscribe or to activate your account as an existing Badminton TV subscriber. If you are already a ClipMyHorse.TV premium member, Badminton TV is included in your subscription. As part of Badminton TV, you can enjoy the documentary programme Legends and Legacy, a fly-on-the-wall insight into the 2024 event and preview of 2025.

Enjoy the best of Badminton with Horse & Hound

To ensure you keep up to date with all the breaking news, behind the scenes insight, and the best of the action throughout Badminton Horse Trials with no limits on how much you can read, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website from as little as £1 a week. Sign up now. And don’t miss our bumper 22-page magazine report on Badminton, including in-depth analysis and exclusive comments from top names, in the issue of Horse & Hound dated 15 May.

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