British Paris Olympic gold medallists head up strong field as Burghley entries close

Paris Olympic team gold medallists Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo head the Defender Burghley Horse Trials entries for this year’s event (5-8 September).

Ros and Michele and Archie Saul’s 12-year-old gelding, the 2023 Badminton Horse Trials winners and reigning European champions, will start as favourites for the win, but with the British autumn five-star attracting its strongest entry since before the Covid-19 hiatus, they will face plenty of competition. Ros also has her own and Alex Moody’s Izilot DHI, fourth at Luhmühlen Horse Trials in June, in the field.

Fewer than 60 pairs started at Burghley in both 2022 and 2023, but this year 79 are entered, so the eventual start list should top that even after withdrawals in the next couple of weeks. Quantity is matched by quality in the field.

“Walter” is the only horse from Britain’s Paris team to head to Burghley, but Olympic pairs from other nations have entered, including Austin O’Connor with last year’s Maryland 5 Star winner Colorado Blue, owned by The Salty Syndicate. Japanese team bronze medallists Toshiyuki Tanaka and the Japan Equestrian Federation’s Jefferson JRA – who only showjumped in Paris, under the unusual Olympic rules – are also entered for their debut here.

Ros’s Paris team-mate and new world number one Tom McEwen will line up on Vicky Bates and David Myers’ CHF Cooliser, who has been runner-up at both the Continental five-stars and has course form, having been 12th at Burghley in 2022.

Last year’s winner, Oliver Townend, brings forward Paul and Diana Ridgeon’s Cooley Rosalent, who won Kentucky Three-Day Event in April, to defend the title he landed last year on Ballaghmor Class.

Other five-star winners in the field include 2022 Maryland winner Coup De Coeur Dudevin – one of three rides for New Zealand’s Tim Price, who also starts on last year’s dressage leader Vitali, and Viscount Viktor – and Chilli Knight, victor in the one-off five-star at Bicton Horse Trials in 2021 for Gemma Stevens.

Burghley Horse Trials entries: a strong field

Harry Meade is the other rider with more than two horses in the Burghley Horse Trials entries. He has five horses listed but will start on a maximum of three. His entries are Cavalier Crystal, who was third here last year, Bramham Horse Trials CCI4*-L winner Annaghmore Valoner, fellow five-star first-timer Et Hop Du Matz, Superstition, who has had three top-10 finishes in US five-stars, and his faithful campaigner at the level, Away Cruising.

The top nine from this year’s Badminton are all set to contest Burghley too, headed by podium finishers Caroline Powell of New Zealand (Greenacres Special Cavalier), Ireland’s Lucy Latta (RCA Patron Saint) and Britain’s Alex Bragg (Quindiva), plus fourth-placed Emily King (Valmy Biats) and 2022 Burghley runners-up Tom Jackson and Capels Hollow Drift, fifth at Badminton. Caroline is a former Burghley winner, as is Pippa Funnell, who returns this time with MCS Maverick, who was ninth at Badminton, and the hugely consistent five-star horse Majas Hope.

Exciting visitors from overseas include France’s Nicolas Touzaint, making his Burghley debut on his Tokyo Olympic medallist Absolut Gold HDC, and young US rider Mia Farley, who was the only person inside the time at Maryland last year on the ex-racehorse Phelps. New Zealand’s Monica Spencer is also set for a first Burghley assault with Artist, after travelling to Europe as reserve for the Kiwi squad for the Olympics.

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