Mary King and Imperial Cavalier at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry.
All horses and riders have been accepted off the Badminton wait list as of this morning, with Mary King and Kings Temptress as the final pair to get in to the event.
That hasn’t happened since the current Badminton wait list system was adopted in 2008 — shout out to H&H eventing editor Pippa Roome for that fun fact. Since the field was smaller this year with 104 entries, as opposed to 141 last year, all entries were largely expected to get in.
Badminton caps entries at 85, with horses and riders being accepted based on FEI points. After Giuseppe della Chiesa’s new cross country course rocked the field in 2014, it wasn’t too surprising to see a small wait list of just 14 this year.
There are eight previous Badminton winners entered in the competition, including 2014 winner Sam Griffiths and his tough mudder mare Paulank Brockagh, as well as 10 horses who have previously won a four-star. Click here to see the full list of entries in drawn order.
British Chef d’Equipe Yogi Breisner said at Rolex last week that Zara Phillips had hoped to re-route High Kingdom to Badminton after scratching from Kentucky at the last minute when the horse cut himself by kicking out in his stall, but the horse has now also been scratched from Badminton.
Next week will be a busy one here on EN, as we’ll be running live coverage from both Badminton and Jersey Fresh, the final U.S. selection trials for the 2015 Pan American Games team. We hope you recover from your Rolex hangover quickly!
[Mary King is final rider accepted into Badminton horse trials]
