Pippa Funnell wins Burghley in 2019. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
British Eventing published a press release on May 11 announcing that they are working to “consider all options for hosting a CCI5* class in the UK as a one-off event this year”.
The briefly worded release explains that the FEI and “other stakeholders” are involved in the exploratory process.
“We are exploring all available possibilities and are committed to doing all we can to see the highest level of the sport being hosted in Great Britain this year,” the statement concludes.
To read the release – and bookmark the page where further updates will be published – click here.
After last week’s announcement that the 2021 Burghley Horse Trials – which were also abandoned in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic – would also not run, the elite level riders were left without a CCI5* option in a country where there are ordinarily two each year. The 2021 Badminton Horse Trials were also canceled, leaving Kentucky and Luhmühlen (Germany) as the only spring CCI5* events.
The abandonment of Burghley, which would have run September 2-5, leaves three CCI5* events on the second half of the calendar year: Maryland (USA – October 14-17), Pau (France – October 27-31) and Australia (Australia – November 18-21). Maryland’s inaugural CCI5*, having been canceled in 2020, will make its long-awaited debut as the seventh CCI5* event in the world.
We’ll continue to provide updates on this story as it develops.
