Classic Eventing Nation

“Nobody Has an Advantage, Because Nobody’s Done It Before”: Get to Grips with the 2025 Defender Burghley Course

By on Sep 5, 2025 8:11 pm -

The Lion Bridge Water.

Every year at Defender Burghley, I consider creating a drinking game out of asking riders what they think of the course. A shot for every time I hear the words “it’s big – it’s Burghley”, perhaps – but then I remember that I’m now in my mid-30s and even just using mouthwash is almost enough to give me a hangover, and I don’t really want to cry or be ill in the mixed zone, so on reflection, maybe not. 

This year, though – so far, anyway – I’d be flirting outrageously with the concept of sobriety even if I did instate that game. I haven’t yet heard the curséd phrase a single time. Not once! Not even split into its constituent parts. 

But that’s because our competitors have had to upgrade their estimation. 

“It’s a monster,” said at least three of the riders on Thursday, letting out that distinctive sort of deep sigh that suggests the sigher might have just done a bit of sick in their mouth. 

Before it starts to seem like we’re going in the wrong direction this weekend, though, let me clarify: while the riders are unified in thinking that it’s one of the biggest, most challenging tracks they’ve ever walked, they’re also feeling good, happy, and, inasmuch as anyone can, pre-Saturday, excited about this year’s Burghley track. We’ve got plenty more of their insights in a Riders React post, so I won’t spoil the fun of that here, but if I can sum up the general vibe here on site, it’s that everyone knows that you come to Burghley with a very fit horse who loves to run and jump, and you expect the greatest and gamest of those horses to earn their laurels at the business end of the leaderboard. This year might just be the crowning jewel of that line of thinking, and nobody begrudges that. 

This year marks course designer Derek diGrazia’s fourth at the helm of the Lincolnshire fixture, which he took over in 2022 from longtime keeper of the keys Captain Mark Phillips. In his tenure as the post-COVID course scion, he’s been able to get into the nitty-gritty of the venue’s famous terrain: its long pulls, its steep ascents and descents, and the placement of its best-known fences. 

In 2025, though, he’s very nearly had to start that education all over again. For the first time since 2017 – a time so long ago that we were still writing our EN reports in cuneiform – the course has switched directions, and the beast is back, baby. 

“It’s like designing a whole new course, honestly, because the ground comes up very differently than when you’re going the other direction,” says Derek. “The feature fences, too, come up in a very different way, so you have to adjust and figure out how you’re going to use them.”

What he found very quickly is that this direction creates an even greater stamina test: the track is front-loaded with the biggest terrain challenges on course, culminating in its highest point – the loop that includes the gaping ditch and brush Cottesmore Leap – at fence eleven, three minutes and eighteen seconds in. 

“Okay, fine, but they get it done early then, and it’s all downhill from there, right?” says you, maybe, and also the annoying little voice in my head before I actually put my boots to the ground and walked the thing. And like, yes, sort of, in some ways: certainly, the riders will know nice and early if they haven’t got the fitness work quite right, which will allow them to make smart decisions about how, and if, they’ll proceed from there. 

But one hill doth not Burghley make, and part of what makes the place so unique is that even when a place in the course translates as being quite flat on a live-stream, it’s only when you walk or – if you’re insane – jog it that you realise the influential subtleties of the undulations. Over the course of a 6500m, 11:24 track (that’s what this one is, by the way; that’s not just a bunch of arbitrary numbers), the cumulative effect is significant. So yes: three and a bit minutes up, up, and away. And then another eight minutes of down a bit, up a bit, along a camber a bit, galloping, galloping, galloping. 

Oh, right, and then there’s the end bit of the course. 

“When you run it the way we did last year, you realise how many questions are in the first five minutes, and so when you switch it around, that’s all at the end,” says Derek, perceptively. “From minutes seven to ten, there’s a lot to do, and it’ll really slow them down. You have to make sure you put yourself in a position fitness-wise where you won’t use them up too soon, so you have plenty of jump left at the end.”

The Trout Hatchery.

Those minutes cover fences 21ABCD through to 27, or, in real-world terms, the Trout Hatchery water complex, a triple bar that looks like house scaffolding that the house disappeared from underneath, the three- or four-effort Defender Valley coffin complex, a yawning great Trakehner, the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit, which has never not given me vertigo when I’ve stood on the lip of the drop (oh, and the lettering goes to E here, so) and a ditch and roll, and once they’ve got through all that, they’ll still have to jump a combination and a single fence in the arena, Lambert’s Sofa in view of Burghley House, and the Defender Finale fence. Again: minutes seven to ten. So while the course may be front-loaded on terrain, it’s back-loaded on complexity and technicality, and while it’s all horse-friendly, it does put the onus on riders to manage their horses’ energy levels meticulously to ensure they have plenty left to make a clean effort over this crucial batch of fences. 

The Boodles complex as seen from alongside 7B. 

It would be remiss, though, to suggest that the early minutes of the course don’t offer any complexity. The first three fences are to be expected: big, friendly-profiled single fences designed to help horses and riders alike gain confidence and get into a rhythm before they come to fence 4, a boat in the water under the landmark Lion Bridge. That’s both a visual showpiece and also a generous offering: there’s a long splash into this water and a chance to get a spook out of the way before the first combination on course, the Boodles at Anniversary Splash at 6AB and Boodles Raindance at 7ABC. 

Here, they’ll jump a brush into the water, pass over a raised knoll of dry land in the middle, and canter back into the drink before a step up to a bounce featuring a sharply angled brush fence. Then, they’ll pop another big brush spread before heading to the first bit of terrain on course, the hill up to Capability’s Cutting, which takes them past the famous Collyweston Slate Mine fence, which is out of commission this year but no less imposing for it.

The first fence of the Dairy Mound, with the corner at B visible — but not its line — in the background. 

As they near the peak, they’ll get one (1) single fence to remind them that it’s not just mountain climbing before they meet the Defender Dairy Mound at 9ABC, and one of the most significant questions on course. This year, it begins with an open oxer – though not the biggest we’ve seen at Burghley – at A, then a right-handed brush corner at B, which comes up fast and with a line that isn’t totally visible until late in the approach, so riders will need to know their plan to the millimetre and execute it confidently. Then, they’ll bowl down to a chevron brush at C before heading to the Fairfax and Favor at Keepers at 10AB, a log to a right-handed corner with a significant dip in between. 

When the course flows in the other direction, there’s a long gallop up Winners’ Avenue to the Irish Horse Board Cottesmore Leap at 11, the ultimate ‘fly’ fence, but this year, it comes up very quickly after 10AB and off quite a short turn, which will help to get the horses sitting and straight, but it’ll be up to their riders to encourage an energetic opening of the stride to get the shot to this straightforward but visually striking fence. 

Then, it’s down the slope of Winners’ Avenue to a broad table at 12, before a double of upright gates on a left-handed turn at the LeMieux Paddock Gates at 13AB. 

After another single fence – wide, brushy, and turreted – at 14, we come to the Pedigree Brushes at 15 and 16, which are separately numbered but very much related. There’s no clear line from the first of these, a ditch and brush that they’ll need to take at an angle, to the second, another of the same that’s set almost perfectly perpendicular to it, but there’s space to take a bit of a wiggly line and, if they really feel they need a bit more set-up for the second, even the option to chuck in a circle in between, since they’re separately numbered fences. 

A taste of the Maltings complex, through the flags of 17B.

Next, it’s the return of Joules at the Maltings at 17AB and 18AB, a complex that’s always packed with wide, airy, tall open oxers and corners, and this year is no different. First, they’ll jump a carved wooden hare at 17A before swinging right to a left-handed corner. Then, they’ll bowl along through the six-minute marker and jump an open oxer to a choice of one of two corners – a right-handed one if they want to save time or a swing around on themselves to a left-handed one if they need more set-up time. 

Fence 19, the Horseware Ireland Rug Rail, is a single fence that needs to be respected: it’s an imposing, fairly upright set of rails set at the back end of a ditch, but the huge Pardubice steeplechase fence at 20 will allow them to open the stride and jump for fun before they head to the Trout Hatchery at 21ABCD and 22. Here, they’ll jump a house into the first of the two ponds, and then head to a roll drop fence into the second of them. They’ll need to land prepared to execute a plan: the next fence is a skinny brush chevron on a left-handed upward slope, and then they have to swing left again to jump another before bustling onward to the final, busy stretch of the course. 

At 23, there’s that capacious Champion Triple Rail en route to the first pass through Defender Valley at 24ABCD, which has been very slightly softened to account for its late appearance on course, but still poses a serious challenge. The brush-topped cabin at A has a downhill landing, which quickly becomes an angled ditch at B, and then a sharp uphill rise to a right-handed corner – another one, yes – at C. Two strides later, there’s an angled cabin to be tackled, so it’s a strong test of the accuracy of the line riders can execute on a tiring horse. 

The first pass through Defender Valley.

After popping a trakehner at 26, our competitors will travel up the rising ground to one of the most famous obstacles on course, the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit at 26ABCDEFGHIJK (just kidding, it “only” goes to E). 

First: down the drop, if you dare, which I do not, and that’s fine. There’s a little glimmer of hope to be had here, though – that drop is actually the AB, so you’ve chopped a letter of the list nice and sharpish on your way down to two very skinny white-railed triple bars at C and DE, which are set on a right-handed dogleg turn. As we’ve seen throughout the course, there are abundant long routes and options here, but those who want to stand a chance of catching the time – which, many suspect, won’t be caught at all this weekend – will have to make the direct route happen, without a driveby or a MIM activation. 

The second and final pass through Defender Valley at 27 is a single fence, and quite a friendly one at that: it’s a brush topped roll fence with a healthily revetted ditch as a groundline, and something of a reward for the mentally and physically intensive work done in the previous minutes. 

Unlike Badminton, the passage through the main arena doesn’t herald the end of the course, but the crowds that gather here will be happy to give horses and riders the encouragement they need to propel themselves to the finale. First, though, they’ll need to successfully clear a very big brush fence on a bending right-handed line to two angled stables at 28AB and 29. Then, blissfully: Lamberts Sofa at 30 and the Defender Finale at 31, and home. 

The Defender Finale Beckons. Photo via CrossCountry App.

In short? Yeah, fine, okay, a monster of a challenge. 

Something that’s also particularly pertinent to point out is that we have no real barometer for how this year’s track will ride, because while it’s switched directions in part, it’s actually a totally new route. The reason for that? Its last sojourn in the other direction was in 2017, and the following year, then-designer Captain Mark Phillips introduced the innovative Burghley flyover, which features a bridge and an underpass that horses can cross over or under to maneuver to a different part of the track. So when it previously ran in this direction, it was a purely clockwise run; in years when it was flipped the other way, it would have been a purely anticlockwise run (she says, perceptively).

This time? It’s clockwise until just after fence 8, and then anticlockwise until just after fence 14, and then clockwise again until the end. That means that the terrain flows in an entirely new way – where previously it might have been a familiar uphill to a familiar downhill, now Derek can really play with how he wants to stack different kinds of terrain questions. 

And at the end of the day, he reckons, isn’t that what getting to design at Burghley is all about? 

“You can go around the world and look at a lot of different courses, and you’ll find very, very few places that’ll even get close to the terrain we have here at Burghley,” muses Derek. “Everyone talks about ‘having a Burghley horse’, and it’s true – some horses are meant to come here, and riders don’t know that until they’ve trained them for years and taken them to all sorts of different places.”

One rider who’s had plenty of experience of both directions here at Burghley is Matt Heath, who’ll head into cross-country in 22nd place with Askari. 

“In the years when we came out and went under the Lion Bridge early, as we do this year, we’d then run up Winners’ Avenue and come back down through the Dairy Mound,” he says. “That was always a really good [lung filler], running down over the Dairy Mound, and we haven’t got that this time.”

Instead, they’ll come up towards and over the Dairy Mound, which means that “our time to fill up the lungs is now the other side, coming down through Winners’ Avenue. And actually, [the ground at] Winners always rides soft. It can walk like the road, but it’ll ride soft for whatever reason. It just rides a little bit dead, a little bit soft. So horses don’t get the ‘fill’ that they do when they come down through the Dairy Mound route. I think that it’s going to be interesting, and I think that no rider’s got an advantage because nobody’s done it before. We just have to play it by ear and see.”

Whether they deliver a competitive round or chalk their day up to experience, one of the things that keeps Burghley relevant even when much of the modern sport seems to be moving in a different direction is this: it teaches riders how to understand equine fitness, its development and its management, in a way that no other competition can. 

“Once a rider has come here and ridden around this course, they understand it,” says Derek. “Sometimes, it takes coming here to realise that, okay, I need to go back with this horse fitter. Or maybe this isn’t the right horse for this course. Or, maybe I have a young horse that could be right for this track, and now I understand the uniqueness of that.”

This year doesn’t just feel like something new because of the inventive directional changes – it also feels like a real melding of the traditional, where terrain and boldness is concerned, with the modern, where technicality and nuanced questions are concerned. If the two ideas can intermingle in harmony, it could be one of the very best Burghleys yet.

You can check out the course in full via the CrossCountry App below, or head to Burghley TV to watch a full-length guided course walk video. 

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Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

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“Get Stuck In and Have a Good Ride”: Riders React to Defender Burghley Cross Country

By on Sep 5, 2025 4:55 pm -

It’s Burghley. Photo via CrossCountry App.

Big, bold, Burghley – all the usual buzz words are being bandied about as the riders mull over the test set by “absolute magician” Derek di Grazia for this year’s cross country. There’s a fair bit of chatter about the whole thing being, well, backwards, but it’s “massive from beginning to end” whichever way you gallop round. This is Burghley, after all.

The time’s tight – of course – and the terrain’s tricky – of course – no change there. All the iconic fences that we know and love are still firmly part of the plan, but the direction of the track means the massive Cottesmore Leap money shot is early on and we’ll have to wait ‘til the very latter stages of the course to see how the horses and riders tackle the drop off the Leaf Pit, the twists and turns of the Trout Hatchery and the challenge of Defender Valley.

We’ve wrangled the riders for their reactions about all of the above for a deep dive into what they’ll be facing as they head out of the start box for the best day at Defender Burghley.

Take a look at the course on CrossCountry App here and eyes on EN for a full course preview headed your way.

Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Oliver Townend – Cooley Rosalent – 22

It’s Burghley, so the first thing’s the terrain, and Derek’s sure been brave with how he’s used the terrain. The first three or four minutes are pretty gruelling, but hopefully, if you get to Winners’ Avenue then you can give them a breather down there and come downhill from there.

[Going the other direction]’s been lucky for me before – in 2017 when we went that way, on an inexperienced horse. It’ll be interesting. I don’t think it’ll be an easy feat.

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Ros Canter – Lordships Graffalo – 22.4

It’s a proper Burghley challenge. I think each individual fence is very jumpable, but it’s the challenge at Burghley of putting them together with the distance you have to travel and the terrain you have to trave on. All of a sudden, something that can look fairly innocuous can become a fairly big question, and they become relentless.

It’s certainly a pretty hard course walking it, particularly coming up this last hill into the main arena. I can only imagine that it’s going to be fairly challenging for the horses tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll win it. We know Walter loves his job. We know he’ll do his absolute best. Hopefully I can give him the right lines and he jumps and knows what to do.

Every time I walk it, it looks harder and harder, which is often the case with me. I’ve got another bike and another walk to go, so I’m going to try to figure out what it’s going look like tomorrow morning. But plenty of challenges. The effect that the terrain has on the approach to the fences, on the get away from the fences. The Dairy Mound is an oxer to a corner, but you’ve been on an uphill climb to get there and then you go up a ramp to get there, and you can’t see the corner either. Suddenly a jump that you can originally think, ‘Well, that’s not so bad’ becomes a whole new challenge when you put it on the Burghley terrain.

Tim Price and Vitali. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇳🇿 Tim Price – Vitali – 23.1

Burghley – it’s like we say every time – it comes at a lovely time of year. The park lends itself so brilliantly to this job of horses galloping across country.

I think it’s going to be very demanding on the clock. It’s going to be more of a task of maintaining a good rhythm from the start, and maintaining that up the hills, down the hills, across the hills, and home. Because home is not typical of the last few years where we get to have a minute and a half of just galloping home – ticking a couple of boxes, trying not to fall under the Lion Bridge – like I’ve done before – if you’re going too fast, and just trying to get home and maybe gain a few seconds. Here, I don’t think we have that opportunity. Whatever we are coming down to Discovery Valley, for example, I think we’re going to be the same or slower on our minutes. And you’ve got to jump all the jumps at the same time. So it’ll be a very fun day of sport, and I’m looking forward to finishing relatively early in the draw and sitting down to watch the rest.

Sam Lissington and Billy Alberto. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇳🇿 Sam Lissington – Lord Seekonig – 24 – Billy Alberto – 39.5

The Dairy Mound is really tough this year. But then, for obvious reasons, like the Defender Valley, and probably the Leaf Pit is softer because it’s at the end of the track, but then you’ve got the addition of the horses being tired.

I think you’ve got to go out and be attacking because it’s Burghley, so there are no two ways about it. And then, use the information [from the first ride] for the second horse, and probably have a lot more of an idea about how to ride some lines and stuff having watched the majority of the class before I go in the afternoon.

They’re both really brave horses. One of the big things about Burghley is the terrain – not only the big climbs, but there’s actually so many dips in the ground here, there, and everywhere, so running across it doesn’t feel as smooth as it looks.

Even just knowing that and being comfortable with that – or knowing, actually, there’s a little dip here, I’m going to aim slightly to the right, the landing’s better there, that kind of information I can take onto the next horse.

Piggy March and MCS Maverick. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Piggy March – MCS Maverick – 25.7

I’ve got a lot to figure out with my guy on Saturday, with it being a very new relationship. I’ll be very interested in learning an awful lot on the way round. Walking the course, I’ve been like, “I wonder what he’s going to do – what he’ll think of this or that.” It’s very different from coming here with Vanir Kamira, who was my last horse here, in that I knew her inside out and knew how she’d think about things.

With him, I’ve got a lot to learn myself, personally, out there. But I’m going to have a go. I just want him to finish. I’d love him to have a good experience this week. He’s only 12, like I said, there’s lots to come with him, with his body, physically.
I think I’d just love for him to have a happy week.

Emily King, #supergroom Sara Morrilly and Valmy Biats. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Emily King – Valmy Biats – 26.1

The undulations, you have to really ride them – ride some of them in some ways, others in other ways. Let them travel how they want, up the steep bits, but encourage them down the hills. It’s really riding it in the right way.

Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇩🇪 Christoph Wahler – D’Accord FRH – 27.2

It’s more technical than I thought it would be. I was expecting many big fences. I was expecting a stamina test as it is very hilly here. I didn’t expect so many right hand turns to so many corners, but it is what it is.

He’s never been here before – he’s never done such a track – so I have absolutely no expectations. I’ll try and do my best to help him jump clear and then we’ll see what we get.

Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇮🇪 Austin O’Connor – Colorado Blue – 27.8 – Sixmilewater – 33

Massive from the beginning to end. I think the first three minutes there’s a long pull to the Cottesmore Leap – you’ll want to conserve as much energy as you can.

Alex Bragg and Ardeo Premier. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Alex Bragg – Ardeo Premier – 28.4

I would have quite liked to have ride in the same direction, because you know the course – you know when you go up to the Cottesmore Leap that if you have a horse that still had some jump, you could get him home because everything’s pretty much downhill.

Whereas now, you get up to the Cottesmore Leap and you’re barely halfway around. There are lots and lots of technical questions, which I think slow the horses down and take them out of their rhythm. Especially for me – you have to gallop uphill, slow down, and still turn and jump big fences – now that’s demanding on the horses, and then they have to drop a gear to get going in the gallop again – all this burns energy.

I think it’s going to take some tact to ride around efficiently so you can be economic enough to get to the finish with a horse that still feels fresh. I think the time could be quite tight.
It’s just so different from last year – you can’t believe it’s the same designer. But maybe that’s a sign of a good designer, in the fact that you never know quite what you’re preparing for, so you have to prepare for everything.

He’s certainly testing you with your horses being adjustable – you have to jump big fences, turn and jump another technical fence, like a corner off a blind turn, so the horse really needs to trust you, be in good balance, and then be reactive to the aids. I suppose that’s what riding is all about. So I guess he’s done a good job.

But how it’s going to go – I don’t know. I’m going to walk it a lot, make sure I know my markers, and then give it my best shot. Hopefully the horse is fit enough and brave enough to do it.
I think if you don’t feel nervous, you don’t really care, and you shouldn’t really be doing it. The nerves keep you on edge, they heighten your senses. I think as long as you can control them, they make you better.

I get nervous. I do my final course walk on the Saturday morning, always by myself, and I walk it as I ride it. My adrenaline is going, my heart rate is risen at points, and I think that almost gets it out of my system. Then when I get in the start box, you need to control their breathing so they don’t rush and burn too much energy too fast with adrenaline, so if you’re pumped with adrenaline, you’re not going to be very helpful. So yeah, I get that out of my system, sit in the lorry, focus. Then when I get on him, it’s just about actually being as calm as you can.
And then when you leave the start box, once you’re a minute or two in, the rhythm is there, set, and you’re going. Hopefully you just hit a good rhythm in the first two minutes.

I just hope that with the ground we don’t have too much more rain. It makes those fences even bigger when they’re jumping out of mud and slipping. Let’s see what happens. It’s nice to be there in contention.

Tom Crisp and Dassett Rock Star. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Tom Crisp – Dassett Rockstar – 28.5

It’s intense, it’s big, it’s long, it’s undulating as ever – it’s Burghley. I’ve had some good times around here, so hopefully I can give this horse a good time. He’s a lovely horse, I think he’ll be one for the future. As long as he goes out there, gives it a good go, and we come back fit and well, then I’m happy.

Will Rawlin and Ballycoog Breaker Boy. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Will Rawlin – Ballycoog Breaker Boy – 28.8

I walked it for the first time this morning and thought the ground is absolutely phenomenal, best ground all year. There are questions all the way around the course. It’s a course to respect, but also a course where you can just get stuck in and have a good ride.

Katie Magee and Treworra. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Katie Magee – Treworra – 29.3

I think it’s tough and a very intelligent course. He’s built a true five-star track for us all to have a really good crack at.

I wouldn’t want to come here if I didn’t have [a strong relationship with my horse]. This is no place if you don’t have an amazing partnership and an amazing horse, and he ticks all the boxes, so I’m a very lucky person.

David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 David Doel – Galileo Nieuwmoed – 29.6

It’s the joy of having a jumping horse. We’re looking forward to going cross country on Saturday. It’s a bit of a twisty track to start with, with quite a few decent corners that you’re turning into, so that’s definitely going to sap it out of them a little bit.

But then Derek has built us a bit of a nice gallop towards the end. You’ve got to keep your wits about you. But yeah, really looking forward to it.

Harry Meade and Cavalier Crystal. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇬🇧 Harry Meade – Annaghmore Valoner – 29.8 – Cavalier Crystal – 30.5 – Et Hop du Matz – 32.7

Derek is an absolute magician. It’s a very fresh, different course. It’s a long time since we’ve been this way round. But I think lots to get stuck into – a big climb early on and lots of fences to jump.

They’ve done a fantastic job with the ground here. Burghley is head and shoulders above any other event in terms of their preparation. They were then fortuitous on top of all that hard work to have the rain, but it’s due to be dry, I think, on Friday and Saturday, so actually, the going will be perfect. The water table is so low that anything will just keep going through it.

It’s a good, proper Burghley course. Interesting that we haven’t been this way around for a long time. Good, intense questions – quite busy at the start, an early climb up to the Dairy Mound – the Dairy Mound will be interesting, how that rides. I think good, fair questions spread out throughout the course.

I don’t think there’s that many fences that are real head scratchers. I think there’s a couple of places where you won’t totally know how they’re going to jump in until you’re midway through the competition, like at the Dairy Mound. But really it’s just about trying to stay in your rhythm, not use up too much gas in the early stages, but not waste time.

The first third of the first third of the course starts off like a one-day event where the intensity of fences is much more severe, and then once you get up to the top, after the Cottesmore Leap, you get some galloping stretches. It’ll be, be really interesting. I think things like the Trout Hatchery coming fairly late, Discovery Valley, late – Discovery Valley is pretty straightforward for Discovery Valley, as is the Leaf Pit, but where they are, and on weary legs… It’ll be good to get stuck in.

Joseph Murphy and Belline Fighting Spirit. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇮🇪 Joseph Murphy – Belline Fighting Spirit – 30.9

I’m looking forward to Saturday and seeing what it brings, and seeing how the horse handles the terrain and the massive jumps that are out there.

Every time you turn up at Burghley, it just feels bigger than the rest. What it does is it challenges you to ride a little bit more forward and braver and trust your horse. That’s the very first feeling I got yesterday when I walked the course – you’re here because you trust your horse, that he’s good. And we just have to – or I just have to – try and follow that through now over the weekend.

Caroline Powell and High Time V. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇳🇿 Caroline Powell – High Time V – 31.1

I think it’s great. I do remember riding around this way. It does ride well, and it gives the horses all the chance to blow out. It’s five-star – it’s hard, it’s tough, but it walks well. I think it’s going to be quite nice.

We train on an uphill, circular gallop, so he’s good at getting up the hill and taking a breather, so it’s going to be interesting, because it’s his first Burghley – you just don’t know until you get there.

I’m kind of hoping he’s going to do well, because he’s got lovely, lovely syndicate of owners together, and they’re having a great time.

Laura Collett and Bling. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Laura Collett – Bling – 31.4

I think it’s very intense. There are a lot of questions from the beginning to the end – there’s no real let-up. Then you put the terrain into it, and it makes it a proper five-star track.

I think the time will be very, very tight. Horses and riders have got to be thinking and on their A-game from the start to the end. You can’t have a split second where you’re not reacting and dealing with what you’ve got.

I think he’s been very clever with the lines he’s built. You’re going to have to be positive in your riding, and the horses are going to have to react very quickly. A lot of the corners and things are on blind approaches – you don’t see them until the last stride – so the horses are going to have to trust the riders.

Alice Casburn and Topspin. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇬🇧 Alice Casburn – Topspin – 31.4

I think it’s really stiff. I think if I do my job, he’ll have a great time, and he’ll really enjoy it. But I was saying earlier, they always say it’s never over until it’s over, until you’re through those finish flags – but here, more than ever. We’ve got serious questions through Defender Valley, and the Leaf Pit is very late on our minute markers. I think it’s going to be one of those where you can’t really sigh a breath of relief until you’re all the way through the finish.

I know that for my mum it will be the longest 11 and a half minutes of her life!

Gaspard Maksud and Zaragoza II. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇫🇷 Gaspard Maksud – Zaragoza – 31.8

I think it’s tough enough – it’s five-star, it’s Burghley. Plenty to do – the first half, I think it’s very tough.

I’m in a good position, kind of in the middle. I can watch a few, not stress too much about it. The ground should be good by then – if it gets worse later, we don’t know yet. But I think it’s a good position to be. I think it’s a good track. You’re going to have to use your brain and ride the horse underneath you.

She’s a fast horse but she’s still very inexperienced – only 12 years old, we haven’t done that many five-stars. At the end of the day, I want to give her a good run, so I’m going to ride sensibly for her and make sure she’s clear over the fences first, and get home in one piece.
After that, if we go as fast as we can, good. But if we don’t, and we’re clear, we’ll still be happy.

Matt Heath and Askari. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇬🇧 Matt Heath – Askari – 31.9

I’m really looking forward to it. I think it’s a tough year. I’m actually walking with Dickie [Waygood] later – we decided we needed a master plan for it. It’s quite intense out there, and he wouldn’t be the sharpest thinking – that’s where I came into trouble last year. I jumped into the Trout Hatchery, had a little trip, recovered from that okay, but then he tripped up the bank as well, and the corner just came up too quick for him. You have to put this horse onto the fence.

I think it’s interesting. There’s a lot of talk about, oh, we haven’t been this way around since 20-whatever, which is absolutely rubbish. We’ve never been this way around. If we came out and went through the under the Lion Bridge early before, then we went up Winners’ Avenue and we jumped and then we came down. That’s actually a really good fill, running down through over the Dairy Mound and things – and we haven’t got that. Our fill is now the other side, and it’s coming down through Winners’ and actually, Winners’ always rides soft – it can walk like the road but it always rides soft, for whatever reason. It just rides a little bit dead, a little bit soft. And horses don’t get the fill that they do when they come down through the Dairy Mound.

I think that it’s going to be interesting and I think no rider’s got an advantage because nobody’s done it, and we just have to play it by ear and see.

It walks on foot tougher terrain, going this way – on foot. When we’re walking up to the main arena it feels like we’ve been walking uphill a long way and the horses are going to feel the same way.

I’m really glad that I’m sat where I’m sat, and it’s not very often I want a stressful, long day on a on a Saturday – I’d normally quite like to go and get it out of the way and go and kick myself or pat myself on the back and get on with the rest of the day and enjoy watching the others but actually, I think on Saturday I’ll be glad of just being able to watch those [earlier riders]. We’ve got some class riders in the early group and it’ll be interesting to see.

Holly Richardson and Ballyneety Silver Service. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇬🇧 Holly Richardson – Ballyneety Silver Service – 32.4

It’s amazing. It’s been amazingly presented, and it’ll be interesting riding it the other way around, because I’ve done it twice the other way.

Grace Taylor and Game Changer. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇺🇸 Grace Taylor – Game Changer – 32.4

Really good. I suppose I came with more knowledge this year. I’m very confident I’ve got him fit enough. Obviously anything can happen on the day – they can come out and have not such a good day, not firing on all cylinders, and there’s not always a lot you can do about that.

However, I’m not quite so naïve anymore, or less so. I do think the course is tough – the course is very tough. I’d say it was a monster when I walked it last year, it’s a monster again – but it is Burghley.

I’m confident he can do it. I’m very confident he can do it. I think he’s one of the best horses in the world.

Lucy Latta and RCA Patron Saint. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇮🇪 Lucy Latta – RCA Patron Saint – 34.4

It’s tough, I think it’s a hell of a track, and the time will be hugely influential. So yeah, I think it’s really, really tough. He’s in great for him. He’s plenty good enough. So, and we’ll be going and giving it our best shot. But at the end of the day it’s five-star, so you definitely need luck on your side too.

Jesse Campbell and Cooley Lafitte. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇳🇿 Jesse Campbell – Cooley Lafitte – 34.6

I really like it. I think it’s really cool. I much prefer the flow of it. I think it should ride well. there’s a couple of places I would have liked, maybe slightly different – I don’t particularly like the Trout Hatchery, going back up it and going off your galloping line. I think the Maltings – if you get a good ride through there that’s going to be like going cross country in heaven.

Tom Jackson and Hawk Eye. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇬🇧 Tom Jackson – Hawk Eye – 35.1

I think it’s very different and interesting going the other way around. I think the time is going to be really influential. I just can’t see anywhere really where we can get up on it or to it. And also the accuracy questions that he has asked are a very different style to last year, which I think is interesting.

Last year was really big, really bold, and everything was not straight in front of you, but near enough straight in front of you. Whereas this year, you’ve got a few of those blind corners where you can’t really see until a stride away. So it’s a different type of feel to the course, as well as obviously being the other way around.

He’s one of these horses that’s just an Irish horse with no breeding, so he could be the most blood horse in the field or the least blood horse in the field, but it’s kind of irrelevant because he feels good galloping. You never quite know until you’ve done the distance around here, but hopefully he should be good.

Sam Watson and Ballyneety Rocketman. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇮🇪 Sam Watson – Ballyneety Rocketman – 35.4

This course, it’s technical and difficult in places like you might get at a very tough championship course with that technicality. Burley is always the monster in this sport because of the terrain, and just like road crossings, the Leaf Pit is slow, and he’s made us really slow at the Trout Hatchery this year. And then with the change of direction, starting off going uphill, that will hopefully help me, because my lad has a lot of gas, but it’s just a real walk the course, sit down and process everything, because it’s a proper challenge, and that’s great. That’s what we want.

There’s seven fences in the first – I haven’t wheeled it yet, but I’d say – about 90 seconds, so there’s quite a lot to just jump in the beginning. Then we’re uphill for a long time. In the middle of that uphill run to the Cottesmore Leap is the Dairy Mound, which is the blindest corner I’ve ever seen in the sport – it really is blind, and and the horses, particularly the Burghley horses who are seriously fit, and they’ll have seen that green grass in front of them, they’ll be galloping up that hill to the Dairy Mound, and when they jump over that oxer, I think that’s a really, really tricky fence. To be honest, in my situation, mid-pack, I would just go for it, and I trust my training, and I trust my ability to pull it off in the middle. We’ll see what happens, maybe it rides better than it walks, and I’ve only looked at it once, but I think anyone could be vulnerable there.

Then it’s just Burghley for five or six minutes, just Burghley – big and bold, like those corners at the Joules, they’re just so big when you walk into them, but you just trust your line and trust your horse’s scope. I think the Trout Hatchery is tough, turning back on yourself. I think the horses will jump in fine once they turn back, but it’s a lot of turning back. It rides like a long route and a lot of the reason we don’t take long routes is because obviously the fences are normally easier, but the twisting and the turning is really hard on them, particularly at that stage in the course. So that’s often why we’ll actually go the straight route, because the long route looks easier to jump, but it’s harder to ride. So we’ve got, we’ve got the difficulty to ride on a long route at that point with the difficult fences of the straight route. And I think that will be tough. And I just think the time will be really tough. We’ve got the best of the best that we’ve seen in the sport here and I think it’s going to be their biggest test.

This is fair game, it’s going to be perfect going but what people forget about, like that turn up to the Cottesmore Leap, when you go up that way and you turn back on yourself, and then you’ve got to drop off. You lose so much time there. You lose time AT those Capability’s Crossings, because you have to slow down for them. You lose so much time now at the Trout Hatchery, which is like an added thing, that’s just what makes it really hard.

Emma Thomas and Icarus X. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇬🇧 Emma Thomas – Icarus X – 37.3

It’s Burghley so it’s the best one of the season. It is a completely different feel. I’ve obviously only been here twice and gone round the other way, but I think it might suit him. I think having the water really early on might just make him clock in and concentrate. I think also the uphill climb will really, really help him, and he doesn’t run out of stamina, so having the Trout Hatchery, Defender Valley and the Leaf Pit in second half doesn’t worry me at all either.

Cassie Sanger and Redfield Fyre. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇺🇸 Cassie Sanger – Redfield Fyre – 37.4

It’s beautiful. It’s my first time at Burghley so I haven’t ever seen it in person. It was just really cool getting to walk up to all the iconic fences.

I think it’s a course that actually really suits my horse and at this point he feels ready for it. I’m just going to go for it!

Tara Dixon and Master Smart. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

🇬🇧 Tara Dixon – Master Smart – 37.5

I think the course is brilliant. I really love the course. I love this way around. Obviously, I wouldn’t know any different, but I love it. The beginning is up the hills – that helps me because he’s very keen, very strong at the beginning – he has quite a mind of his own. And so I’m really happy with the way it runs. You need a lot of concentration all the way through and it’s going to be a long way around. I think we’re ready to tackle it and I’m really excited.

Simon Grieve and Autograf. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇬🇧 Simon Grieve – Autograf – 37.8

I think it’s massive and really technical and difficult and challenging, but that’s why we’re here. We want to be challenged and we want it to be difficult. There’s lots of places to do something really stupid and make a silly mistake and have a 20 but they’ve got to be bold and brave. I was going to say big and bold and brave, but actually he’s small! So, small and bold and brave – which he is, so I think it should suit him absolutely.

Lauren Innes and Global Fision M. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

🇳🇿 Lauren Innes – Global Fision M – 38.7

It’s big, it’s bold. There’s loads of corners – you need a horse that’s really attacking and straight down the line and really committing and confident in their own ability. I mean, it’s really testing – their strength, stamina, scope, trust in the rider. There’s plenty to do out there.

And there we have it, straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

Go eventing!

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Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]

All ‘Points’ Lead to Burghley: Tom Strawson Debuts Former Racer Public Address at Defender Burghley

By on Sep 5, 2025 2:46 pm -

Tom Strawson and Public Address. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Every now and then, among the busy professionals and multi-Olympians, a rider comes through at an event like Defender Burghley who’s got the most relatable story of all.

Meet Tom Strawson, the full-time property professional who’s making his 5* and Defender Burghley debut this week with the former point-to-point racer, Public Address.

Tom’s journey to eventing was circuitous, but also not unexpected: eventing runs in his family, after all. His aunt, Ginny Rose (née Strawson), competed here at Burghley in the 90s, his father rode around at Bramham, and his family was local to the Lincolnshire area, trekking over to watch the event nearly every year.

But Tom’s riding career started off more heavily in point-to-point racing (for our U.S. readers unfamiliar, point-to-point racing is a sort of steeplechase event done in similar fashion to a hunt). He’d done eventing as a teenager, but found he liked the racing, until, that is, he got older and he found it more difficult to keep his weight down to the necessary minimums for the pointing.

“Pointing was easier with university and work,” Tom recalled. “I managed to eventually get going, get a few outside rides, keep myself fit, turn up at a point-to-point, ride at the weekend, and get back working. I did that and absolutely loved it. I’d probably still be doing that now if it wasn’t for the size of them. But as you get older, your natural weight gets heavier, and I was just sweating more and more each year. It just wasn’t particularly fun. So I decided it was probably in my best interest to give up.”

So it’s only fitting that his next, big-time event horse would come to him also via point-to-point racing.

“A friend of mine told me he had a cheap Thoroughbred that could jump,” Tom recalled. “He sent me a video, and that was enough for me to get on a plane and go see him. And we just went from there.”

Tom Strawson and Public Address compete at Ballindenisk earlier this season. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

“I’m quite competitive, and I had got a bit bored and thought, ‘What else can I do?'” he continued. “So I started buying and selling a few horses. This horse came along. I tried to sell him, but he had a few issues and I struggled to sell him. I sort of kept him around instead of doing nothing, and he just progressed quite quickly. He’s quite talented.”

Public Address has royal breeding when it comes to pointing, but in reality, he wound up being too slow to be competitive. His temperament and trainability, coupled with his actual jumping ability, however, was enough for Simon to sign away a pittance of a purchase price to bring him home. Whether or not he’d become a 5* horse? Tom wasn’t sure.

“I had no idea, really, because I’d never done it,” he said. “It was always ‘if.’ So it was just a case of keep asking him a few questions, and then he answered them and we progressed. And I suppose that’s happened—-so that’s why we’re here.”

Tom’s got himself well set up with help ahead of this debut and Saturday’s cross country challenge. He’s just down the road from Ros Canter, and of course he’s got plenty of help within his own family, as well as from dressage mastermind Amy Woodhead. “We just use whoever we can get ahold of, usually,” he said. “Everybody’s so busy, so we just appreciate the help we can get.”

He’s feeling as ready as he can be for tomorrow’s challenge, and to be sat on a full Thoroughbred this weekend won’t be a poor decision. “I took this horse [over to Ros’ yard] for his last cross country school last week. She had some lines set up that she was jumping with her good horse. I thought, ‘well, if my horse can jump those, we’ll be okay!'”

[Want more on this pair? Read Horse & Hound’s profile here!]

Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]

Every Rose: Townend Tops Burghley Dressage Leaderboard with a Great Grey (Vol. 3)

By on Sep 5, 2025 2:45 pm -

Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

[To catch up on this morning’s action, click here!]

It’s tight at the top of the leaderboard as we close out dressage at Defender Burghley, where three-time victor Oliver Townend once again finds himself in command of the business end. This time, it’s not on the great grey Ballaghmor Class, with whom he won in 2017 and 2023, but instead with another fleabitten stable star, the 2024 Kentucky champion Cooley Rosalent. (Notably, his first win, back in 2009, also came aboard a grey in Carousel Quest, if you’re into patterns and omens and all that sort of thing.)

Despite some early spookiness, eleven-year-old ‘Rosie’, who was second at Badminton this spring, pulled out a polished test to earn a 22, her second best score at the level in six previous starts. 

“I’ve been slightly caught out by the atmosphere,” says Oliver. “She wasn’t as quiet as I’d have liked her to have been in there, but she’s ended up in the right place so far. I was happy with her –  she’s still relatively babyish in some ways. She’s obviously out of a proper racehorse, and at times she’s more like a racehorse than an event horse, so she’s very easy to become excitable, and she’s very easy to not produce what you want. But on the whole, she did very well.”

Reflecting back on his warm-up, Oliver muses that “we could have probably had her a little bit quieter; perhaps a bit more work. But at the same time, once we were up and running – she didn’t really see the point of a halt or rein-back – but once we were up and running and in the more open work, I thought that’s where she started to breathe. And I think she progressed as the test went on. I felt like she would let me in a lot more as we got further on through the test.”

At that point, he says, “I felt like I was brave enough that once she’d had her first spook, I sort of put my hands down and forward and said, ‘go.’ And she responded very well. Once she started breathing, I really felt like I could nail the changes. They felt very good and open. She always progresses from sideways work, so she always breathes more and comes up into the frame more through the half-passes and shoulder-in.”

This will be Rosie’s second Burghley start after an uncharacteristic tumble on course here last year, after which the pair regrouped for a steady run at Pau before returning this spring with that excellent Badminton runner-up result. This week, Oliver returns with one goal in mind.

“I’m always [here to win] now,” says Oliver. “We don’t bring horses not to be competitive at this level. But so far, so good. We know we’ve got one of the best horses in the world coming, and Ros takes some beating on that one. But at the same time, we’re in it to win it, and we’re in a good starting position.”

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Reigning Burghley champions Ros Canter and ‘that one’, Lordships Graffalo, slot into a close second place on 22.4, just 0.4 – or one second tomorrow – behind the leaders. 

“I’m thrilled with Walter. He’s just an absolute professional. He’s actually been quite bright this week, right up until he got up here, and then he was like, ‘Ros, of course I know what I’m doing. I’m not going to be bright at all.’”

‘Bright’, for Walter, means he’s been “a pain in the backside in the stables,” laughs Ros, who explains that he’s rather fallen in love with Cassie Sanger’s Redfield Fyre and hates to see him go (but loves to watch him leave???). He’s been, she continues, “high maintenance – a bit like a pop star.”

Because of that, Ros expected to have to do a bit more work with him before her test in order to turn that sparkle in the right direction – but as it turned out, she didn’t.

“So maybe I just overcooked it by five minutes in the warm-up with him,” she muses. As a result, “He was just ready to halt on that first halt a little bit too soon. But I’m thrilled with him. I mean, he gets the biggest [cheers], even on the way in, and he absolutely loves it. Most of the time, if the crowd did that, I’d get quite nervous of a horse just about to do dressage, but with Walter, it just lights him up and he thoroughly enjoys it.”

The 22-23 range has been a sweet spot – and a very consistent one – for the pair at five-star level over the last couple of seasons but for a sojourn into the mid-20s at Badminton this spring, where they lost marks in two of their flying changes. Today, they hit all four right on the money. 

“I was particularly thrilled with his changes today – we missed two of those at Badminton, and it’ll always be something that we kind of get, but they wouldn’t necessarily be 100% believable,” says Ros. “I’ve worked hard on those since May, and today they just felt really [good]. So that’s what I was most pleased with.”

Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

“There’s a fair amount of pressure when it comes to riding Lordships Graffalo,” she continues. “He doesn’t often do a bad test or make mistakes, so it’s all about trying to eke out as many marks as we can.”

Ros’s appearance at Burghley this year comes a few weeks after her announcement that she’d be withdrawing from the selection process for this month’s FEI European Eventing Championships, owing to pregnancy. The decision, she says, was a simple one to make – even if it meant losing the chance to defend the title she won at the last Championships two years ago.

“Very simply, the Europeans is a team competition, and the pregnancy progresses day by day. I wouldn’t know whether I’d want to compete in two weeks’ time or not. It wouldn’t have sat well with me if I’d had to pull out last minute, or if I hadn’t been able to ride at my best for a team championship. Burghley is a completely individual event, and it’s entirely down to me if I choose to go or not, and up to my family and my owners. We’ve all been working together to make this decision.”

In any case, getting to defend her title here is just as much of an honour, she continues.

“It’s very special to get another opportunity to even be here, to be quite honest. Burghley is probably my favourite event; I just love the magic of it, I think it’s very special, and not just because it’s local [for me] – I just think it’s beautiful in all respects. So to be able to come here is a real privilege.”

Samantha Lissington and Lord Seekönig. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

This morning’s leaders, Tim Price and Vitali, will sit in third place going into cross-country on their score of 23.1, while fellow countryman Samantha Lissington steps smartly into fourth after putting a five-star personal best of 24 on the board with the twelve-year-old Lord Seekönig. 

The German Sporthorse has always had bucketloads of natural talent on the flat and a commanding presence in the ring, sometimes with the scores to match – the pair went sub-30 at Badminton this spring and earned a 26.7 in their test at Pau last year. But he’s also, at some points along the way, been much more of a work in progress – and one that Sam has felt it well worth taking her time with to get it right. 

Today, in her ongoing quest to perfect the details, she opted to make a bold move: rather than riding him in a double bridle, as she has done previously, she swapped him into a snaffle. 

“I thought I’d try and see if we could actually change and go in a snaffle bridle, but I was very much umming and ahhing right up until the last 10 minutes,” says Sam. “I said to my groom, ‘I think I might change back to the double.’ And she gave me a little bit of a panicked look. Then I was like, ‘okay, I’ll try a little bit longer, see what I’ve got.’ And then I thought, you know what — if I don’t do it now, I’m not going to get a chance to do it again. So let’s just see what we’ve got in the arena.”

The reasoning behind her choice?

“Some judges seem to penalise people more in a double, I think, and if he gets a bit low in it then that can sometimes be punished, which I think is what happened in Aachen,” she says. “Basically, I’d been switching between the snaffle and the double all week. I’d program a bit in the double, put in place my half-halt, make sure my training was all there, and then go to the snaffle — make sure I had a test-ride feeling in the snaffle to know how much support I had in the bridle, what the softness was like, all of that kind of stuff. This morning I rode him in the snaffle, then I rode him in the double, and then I came up in the snaffle with the double on standby. I only really decided to leave it when there wasn’t enough time to change anymore.”

And so: a fact-finding mission with aims far beyond this week. 

“I just thought, ‘basically, it’s not the be-all and end-all here’,” she muses. “The goal is WEG next year, and LA beyond that. So actually, if I wasn’t going to do it now at a really big event, when was I going to do it? I thought I could actually sacrifice a bad test for knowing one way or another. And now I do know, and that’s great.”

Once she’d worked out that the bitting choice was a good one, she began to have fun in the test.

“I did actually enjoy that one — but probably only once I got into the canter work and realized he was still staying with me,” she laughs. “Before then, I was still very much managing my way through it. It all felt lovely, but I was anticipating maybe having a bit more of a handful on my hands in the canter work. But he actually was lovely.”

Samantha Lissington and Lord Seekönig. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

It’s a great start to a week that she hopes will make some positive strides forward from the pair’s Badminton this spring, where they had a surprise late run-out on course.

“Badminton was a bit of a disaster, cross country,” Sam says. “My saddle had slipped a little bit, and I don’t think I had the bitting quite right. So I’ve tweaked a few things in terms of tack adjustments, and he’s had a couple of really good runs. We’re hoping that success holds up now through a longer course. But the proof will be in the pudding tomorrow evening, when I’m having a beer – whether it’s celebratory or commiseratory.”

She won’t be having that beer alone – of course, there’ll be her husband, Brayden, best known either for being the host of the podcast Eventing Weekly or for being listed as ‘wife of Sam Lissington’ on this week’s chat stage programme, but also propping up the support side for Team Lissington are Sam’s parents, who’ve hopped on a plane from New Zealand to cheer their daughter on this week. 

“They surprised me! They weren’t going to come over, but then I was on the phone with them a few weeks ago, and they said, ‘you know what? We’re nostalgic from being here in 2019 – we’re going to jump on a plane.’ So they’re here, which is really exciting.”

Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Day one leaders Piggy March and the former Pippa Funnell ride MCS Maverick will head into tomorrow’s cross-country in fifth place on 25.7, while Emily King and Valmy Biats overcame a bit of a raucous atmosphere to post a 26.1 for overnight sixth.

“I’m so pleased with him,” says Emily. “There was, I think, a lot of extra atmosphere in there following Mr. Townend, and he coped really well. He’s super sensitive, but he really tried in there. I just let him breathe and relax. He’s a really good boy, and I’m so pleased he kept his cool in there.”

While Emily and Val have had two placings at Badminton together, Burghley is an event that Emily feels is still unconquered – and this year, she’s hoping to rewrite their story here.

“It’s great to have got off to a good start, sort of in the mix today. But I think it’s all about tomorrow,” she says. 

Christoph Wahler and D’Accord FRH. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Our sole German competitor, Christoph Wahler, is another rider to opt for a trip to Burghley over a Europeans campaign – and in D’Accord FRH, he feels he’s got a horse up to making good of their debut here. He and the lanky bay, with whom he finished ninth at Kentucky last year and seventh at Burghley this year, posted their first five-star sub-30, a smart 27.2 that sees them take seventh place overnight.

“It was very good, and I’m very happy,” says Christoph. “I think this is his best test that we’ve done so far, and he’s really developing well. He’s felt great all week here at Burghley. He’s warmed up really, really well, and all the time warming up I thought, ‘can I please just manage to get this in the arena today?’ And then he listened to me all the way around, he was very concentrated, and I’m very happy.”

Translating the work from the warm-up to the main stage has been a niggling little hurdle that Christoph feels has been an important work in progress for the pair.

“I’ve had days where – don’t get me wrong – he doesn’t always feel that good,” he says. “He’s been progressing throughout the year, and he’s usually better towards the end of the season. For example, at Badminton he felt terrible ten minutes before I was going in – he was getting a little bit excited. Here, he felt so within himself, waiting for me, and comfortable in his body. And I was just hoping I could get that into the arena. Because he can score 28 at four-star, so why wouldn’t he be able to score 27 in the afternoon on Friday here? You’re always hoping for that, and I think that’s about him; that’s where we can be.”

The pair made the time at Badminton this year, and although Christoph remains pragmatic about the challenge that’s to come, he’s also quietly hopeful. 

“I mean, if I could have that score tomorrow evening, that would be great. But you never know with doing the time. He’s never been here before, he’s never done such a track. So I have absolutely no expectations. I just want to do my best to help him jump clear, and then we’ll see what we get. Cross-country looks incredible. I’ve been hoping to get a Burghley horse one day since I started eventing, so now we’re here, and we’ll just try to do our best tomorrow.”

Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Ireland’s Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue, too, might seem like they’d have been pinned down and tied up for the European Championships team, but here they are – and so far, that decision is paying off marvelously. We saw a taste of what the cross-country speed machine ‘Salty’ is capable of on the flat last summer, when the pair posted a 26.4 at Bramham, and today they, too, went sub-30 at this level for the first time. Their 27.8 will see them start cross-country in eighth place, capable of a significant climb but this time, with the view from the top achingly close to hand already. 

“I’m over the moon, and it’s lovely to break the 30 mark with him,” says Austin. “It hasn’t been for lack of trying – but you know what, you can always have one or two things slightly go wrong. I think Friday afternoon helped with the big atmosphere there, actually – he loves the public.”

Austin and Salty are renowned for being one of the swiftest, most capable pairs in the sport across the country, but Burghley has, so far, been a bit of an albatross for them: they retired on course after a shock early runout in 2023, and ran well but had two rails down on Sunday last year for fourteenth place. Austin’s not planning to live in the past this weekend, though: instead, he knows that all he can do is ride every minute and prioritise his partnership with his horse, and what will be will be. 

“Even if I go to a local gymkhana, my aim is to be competitive,” he says. “But I wouldn’t put a number on it. I just want to do my best, do the best for the horse, and whatever happens after that happens. There’s 15 horses here that could win it. But it’s sport, it’s competition, it’s eventing. I’m not one of these statistical people. Every day is different, and everything’s got to go your way.”

Fittingly, the top ten is rounded out by two partnerships that made the step up into dressage dominance this week: Alex Bragg and Ardeo Premier, who produced a 28.4 yesterday, sit ninth going into cross-country, while Tom Crisp and Dassett Rock Star hold tenth on the 28.5 they delivered this morning. 

Tomorrow’s cross-country challenge, designed once again by Derek di Grazia, will kick off at 11.30 a.m. BST/6.30 a.m. EST tomorrow, with a round 50 horses and riders currently set to take part. For the eagle-eyed among you, that’s one fewer than expected: Aaron Millar and Friendship VDL were a late withdrawal this afternoon just moments before their dressage test. 

Just 21.2 penalties separate the entire field, and 20 — or one runout or refusal, but I don’t need to tell you lot that — spans places 1 through 49, which means that tomorrow’s cross-country will be certain to shake up the leaderboard.

So that’s that for dressage, but don’t click out the EN tab on your browser just yet: we’ll have plenty of Burghley coverage yet to come today, including more stories from dressage and a closer look at tomorrow’s track – plus, chats with riders throughout the field on their thoughts on how it’ll ride and, tomorrow, the return of Cheg’s brilliant live updates.

Until then: Go Eventing!

The top ten after dressage in the 2025 Defender Burghley CCI5*.

Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]

A ‘Smart’ Family Affair for Tara Dixon at Defender Burghley

By on Sep 5, 2025 2:40 pm -

Tara Dixon and Master Smart. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Tara Dixon’s 5* debut has been a long time coming. Eventing runs in her family: her mother, Karen Dixon MBE (née Straker), is a four-time Olympian who has jumped around some of the biggest tracks in the world many times over. That in-house education has served Tara well as she’s risen the ranks. In 2016, Tara told Your Horse UK that she wanted to become an Olympian in her own right, and compete at the top level for as long as she can.

Now, nine years later, she finds herself on the cusp of making that top-level debut a big reality, with one phase down and two to go aboard the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding, Master Smart, by Master Imp.

Horses in the Dixon family have to “earn their stripes” in order to obtain a “Smart” in their name. Karen, for her part, partnered with two big-time horses during her career, Get Smart and Too Smart. That tradition has carried on — and Master Smart earned his name nearly right off the bat as a talented young horse.

“He earned it in his first year with us, literally just as a five-year-old—he got it straight away,” Tara said. “And he’s got Master Imp in him, so we got Master Smart.”

To be sure, Tara’s lead-up to Defender Burghley was less than ideal. At Bramham in June, Tara fell with her other horse, Global Narco, and sustained multiple injuries and broken bones that set her back in her training for this week. Fortunately, she had enough time to make a turnaround (being plied with gin by some well-meaning friends always helps the cause, also) and get back for this debut.

“I broke my wrist, my knuckle, and my eye—-I cracked my eye socket, so my eye was all swollen,” Tara told us after her dressage test on Friday, where she scored a 37.5. Arriving here, her primary goal for dressage was to get into the 30s with a horse that’s been tending more to score in the low-40s. “I’m absolutely over the moon, to be honest with you. I’ve said to Mum for weeks and weeks, if I got a dressage score that started with a three—even if it was 39.9—I would be delirious. And to get a 37? Yeah, I’m absolutely elated.”

It’s actually quite a circuitous path she’s taken with “Fred” to get here. In fact, Tara and her mom found the horse while on a trip to watch Burghley in 2018. “The last time I came here was seven years ago with Mum, just to watch,” she said. “En route we were looking for horses, and that’s when I found Fred. So we’ve done full circle, and now we’ve returned with him in the competition.”

Tara admits it hasn’t been the easiest to produce this horse (are Master Imps ever easy?), but Tara says the time has been well spent. “He was always very special, but he’s very sharp,” she elaborated. “When he was younger, and I first got him, I’d fall off just doing dressage. He’s been a really tough horse to produce; you’d feel like you were getting somewhere, and then he’d fiddle his feet and you’d be on the floor. But now we’ve built a relationship and a connection. It took a good couple of years for us to be really close, and now we’re inseparable. I love him.”

What’s it like having such a well-accomplished mom to help guide her? Tara says it’s been incredibly special, and the amount of knowledge Karen stores in her brain is expansive. “She just has all those small details, and she just says it all without thinking and I just listen and take it all in. I’ll take every bit of advice I can get, all the help. She’s amazing, she’s always with me by my side. Yeah, I mean her help, her knowledge, her connections, even just to people sometimes who need a third opinion. And she just doesn’t even have to raise a finger and she’s got friends there that are willing to help with huge amounts of knowledge.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s challenge, Tara says she’s feeling up for it. She’s been well-prepared: she’s spent a solid three or so seasons at the 4* level, and she knows she’s put in the work necessary to ride here at Burghley.

“You need a lot of concentration all the way through, and it’s going to be a long way around,” she said of the course. “But I think we’re ready to tackle it, and I’m really excited.”

Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]

ICYMI: Friday at Defender Burghley

By on Sep 5, 2025 12:47 pm -

Eyes on EN for the full dressage report coming soon. Rest assured, Tilly is typing her fingers down to bloody stumps as we speak, aided by Sally and hindered by Chinch, who’s (probably) napping off a day spent schmoozing his way round the Pol Roger tent. It’s a mammoth task so patience, please, while they pull off the impossible. It’ll drop just as soon as super-humanly possible.

Until then, here’s a quick re-cap of what the scores look like as we head into tomorrow’s cross country:

1️⃣ 🇬🇧 In pole position as the best day beckons is Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent who are sitting just 0.4 ahead of the defending champions on a score of 22.

2️⃣ 🇬🇧 Chasing them down is Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo who are on a score of 22.4.

3️⃣ 🇳🇿 Less than a point behind, rounding out the top three after the first phase is Tim Price and Vitali on a score of 23.1.

You’ll find the full scoreboard right here.

But scores aside, eventing at heart really isn’t just a numbers game (apologies to our friends at EquiRatings for that bold declaration, although as fellow eventing superfans, we think they’ll secretly agree). Here’s a run-down of some of the other points of interest from today’s dressage at Burghley threw our way today:

🎇 Fireworks Fizzled – We had explosive potential in today’s line up, with known firecrackers Icarus X and Finduss PFB in the mix. However, despite a smidge of looky-looky, joggy-joggy, determined side eye at the judges, both Emma Thomas and Sammi Birch did masterful jobs of using their partnership with their horses to keep things under wraps. Emma’s face went from super serious to huge grin as she saluted, with happy tears and huge neck scratchies for Icarus for their score of 37.3. Sammi was equally pleased with Finduss, saying “We learn about him all the time… Maybe when he’s 20 we’ll be on a 25!”. Today they scored 35.7. Another pair we watched with our breath held was Jesse Campbell and Cooley Lafitte, due to their tricky time in the first phase at Badminton. “Good boy,” Jesse whispered on the way out of the ring after a much improved test from them saw them land on 34.6.

📸 Picture of the Day – This surely goes to Alice Casburn for the look of pure disbelief on her face when she saw the scoreboard at the end of her test with family fave Topspin. “I looked up at the score and was like, Oh wow!” she tearfully said in her interview. They’re on 31.4.

🧑‍🎤 Woah Boy! Tom Crisp’s expression went from cool, calm and collected to OMG! in 0.1 of a second as Dassett Rockstar took the final salute as his cue to take off towards the cross country. Rockstar vibes all round for this pair as they put down a huge PB, with Tom pointing up to the scoreboard as he left the ring. “I like defying the odds,” he said afterwards. A first sub-30 at 5* for them – 28.5.

🫶 Sweet Story – Cool Jack and Alexander Tordoff may be making their 5* debut but they’ve been to Burghley before – for a Pony Club one-day event. Alex looked a little disappointed with his score but actually, cantering down the centre line at Burghley’s pinnacle event, that’s totally a win in itself. They scored 41.7.

🥃 Cheers Mate! The two Jacks were having a proper chat as they jogged out of the ring on the lookout for the cross country fences, the Burghley sun shining on the checkerboard adorning Jack Daniels’ bum while Jack Mantel talked to his pal the whole way out. They put down a score of 38.

👏 Biggest Cheer – Tim Price and Vitali for sure scored the biggest cheer of the day for a test that was justly appreciated by the crowd with clapping, cheers, whistles and waving flags. Vitali’s happy ears were surely a highlight of their test. 9s in the harmony marks for them and a score of 23.4.

😁 Funny Guy – Sam Lissington’s Lord Seekonig gave the crowd something to giggle about as he flicked his top lip and grinned at them on the way out of the ring, clearly pleased with his score of 24.

🐴 Fun Fact – William Fox-Pitt rode Emily King’s horse Valmy Biats at Novice level but struggled to gel with the gelding, which just goes to show how there’s different people for different horses no matter how talented a rider you are. Emily and Valmy sit on a score of 26.1.

🏆 Sporting Hero – The sportsmanship award goes to Arthur Marx who not only gave his homebred pal Church’ile a huge hug and a munch of grass after their test but also wished Austin O’Connor luck as he rode past on the way to start his with Colorado Blue. That’s exactly what we like to see. He scored 36.2.

😊 Mind Your Manners – Tara Dixon smiled and seemed to say good morning to the camera operators around the ring as she waited for the bell before her test. After a sweet test from both horse and rider she let us in on her plan for tomorrow: “Out of the start box – stay attached over the first couple – then let him run”. They start their 5* debut off on a score of 37.5.

⭐ Winning at Burghley – Another pair of 5* rookies, Elspeth Bryce and Lacoste made a lovely picture of a pair trying their best together. The horse was super relaxed and looked like he was smiling on his way out of the ring. Really, that’s winning at Burghley. They scored 39.9.

🐶 Man’s Best Friend – And finally, there was a four-legged addition to the commentary team this afternoon when one of William Fox-Pitt’s wolfpack joined in with the action. On a leash, of course.

Keep it locked onto EN for the full report coming your way and join me tomorrow for EN’s classic live blog, where I’ll be bringing you every single scrap of the cross country action. Ice those fingers ready for a day of refreshing ENers. It’s going to be a good one.

It all kicks off at 11am BST / 6am ET.

Until then…
Go eventing!

Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]

An Official Rider: Valerie Pride’s Judging Journey to the Heights of European Eventing

By on Sep 5, 2025 12:00 pm -

Valerie Vizcarrondo Pride and Favian at the Maryland 5 Star. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

Halfway through a bustling eventing season, Valerie Pride has barely had a moment to breathe — let alone pause to reflect. The year kicked off, as it often does, under the hot Florida sun, where she and her horses trained and competed non-stop through the early spring. Now back at her home base in Maryland, she’s catching a “second wind” — reconnecting with clients who stayed north and stepping into a slightly quieter (but no less focused) phase of her year.

Her current string of horses includes promising six-year-old Irish gelding Excel Star Je T’Aime, who is “huge and still growing”. He recently made a statement with a second-place finish in his first CCI2*. Valerie is aiming him at a 2*-L this fall, believing that it’s an essential step for a big-framed horse like him before climbing up the levels.

Meanwhile, her nine-year-old gelding Kiss My Jambo M is at the top of the national leaderboards at the Preliminary and 2* levels, though they’ve momentarily stepped back from an Intermediate move up. “He’s so game, but gets tired on the cross-country. I don’t want to rush it,” she says. “When you’ve been in the sport as long as I have, you can look back and see all the mistakes you made before you knew better. Now I want to take the time to get it right.”

It’s a perspective that only time and horses can teach. “When you’re younger, taking time off from competing feels counterproductive. Now I know that patience is progress. Waiting is hard, but it’s worth it.”

This fall, however, Valerie isn’t just focused on the horses in her barn. She’s heading to Europe as a judge, instead of as a rider. And not just anywhere: she’s judging at the Burghley 5*, the British Eventing Young Horse Championships at Cornbury, and the European Eventing Championships at Blenheim — some of the most prestigious events in the sport. It’s a milestone moment in her judging career, and perhaps even a turning point for her future.

Valerie judged her first 5* at Maryland last year, followed by the 4*-S at Kentucky. She describes both with a kind of reverent excitement. “When you judge the 3*-L at Maryland, you hang out with the 5* judges and hope that’ll be you one day. Then suddenly it is.”

Her selection for Burghley, one of the biggest and boldest events in the world, was a moment of disbelief. “I’ve never even been to Burghley. To walk that course in person? I’m going to get goosebumps. It’s massive, technical, and iconic.”

Shortly after came another invitation: to judge the European Championships at Blenheim. It felt full circle. “I competed at Blenheim years ago, but the Queen had just passed away, so the event had a somber tone. This year I get to go back as an official, and I’m hoping it’s more celebratory, more festive.”

Then comes Cornbury, where she’ll judge the seven-year-old British Championships, many of whom will be the future stars bound for Burghley, the European Championships, or even the Olympics.

Each weekend she’ll work with a different team of talented judges and officials, and she’s looking forward to the variety. “I’m going to learn so much and come back completely inspired,” she said, “and I’ll definitely be bringing that energy back to my own program.” Between the three events, she might stay at longtime friend and coach William Fox-Pitt’s farm and catch up with other riders as well as their young horses. When Val gets home though, the rest won’t last long: Fall Area II Championships and local three-day events will be right around the corner for her and her team.

Valerie Pride and Favian competed at Blenheim Palace in 2022. Valerie will return this year — but this time as a judge. Photo by The Jockey Club.

Despite the excitement, Valerie knows that judging at this level requires serious preparation. As the junior judge at each event, she’s determined not to be the weak link. “I’ve been watching old Burghley videos, trying to understand where the horses struggle,” she said. “For Blenheim, they’re running the 4* Test D, so I’m practicing it myself at home to really know it inside out.”

Cornbury is expected to be overwhelming just due to the sheer size of the event, with hundreds of horses competing. Valerie is relying on experience from other large events like Blair Castle to keep her focused. “You have to be ready for the first horse in the ring to be the best one of the day.”

Valerie believes her experience as a 5* rider is what makes her such a strong judge. “It’s my biggest asset. I know what it feels like to be in the ring — I know when something goes wrong, how hard it is to recover, and how much you want the judging to feel fair.” That rider perspective also helps her notice patterns others might miss. Judging show jumping especially, she sees where the majority of competitors struggle in a course and takes that knowledge home to her own horses and students. “I’m not afraid to ask questions. These course designers are geniuses. Understanding why they do what they do makes you a better horseman.”

She’s also extremely aware of the standards she holds herself to, both in and out of the arena. “Because I’m an official, I expect more from myself and my staff. Everything we do is done with care and intention. There are no shortcuts. Legs are checked at each walk to and from the field, and our cool down routine is established and extensive.” Her team uses systems like Stable Secretary to stay on top of every detail, and she keeps them sharp with pop quizzes. “We know what a normal heart rate is because our horses wear monitors. We know how many strides are in a line, what canter we need, and how to prep before it happens.”

Valerie Pride served on the ground jury at the Blair Castle Horse Trials. Photo courtesy of Valerie Pride.

Valerie’s judging “Tune-Up Tips” video series on social media has also been growing in popularity. The series started out as a way to answer the same questions she kept getting over and over again at shows. “People would come to my trailer and ask things, and I’m always happy to share. Then I realized I was writing the same thing on 27 dressage tests, so I thought, why not make a video about it?”

The videos cover everything from new rules to common mistakes, usually filmed on the fly during her rides. One early video about dressage whip use remains a favorite. “I threw the whip at my groom so many times I actually spooked my horse,” she laughed. “It kind of sabotaged the training for a second, but it got the point across.” Feedback for her series has been overwhelmingly positive, with riders saying they didn’t know that certain things were in the rule book. “I view it as good karma. If I can help people ride better and stay within the rules, it’s worth it.”

This judging tour is just the beginning of what Valerie hopes will be a long-term journey. She’s eager to judge in more countries, including Germany and Japan, and dreams of going to more major championships and iconic venues like Aachen. “I’m a total eventing nerd,” she admits. “I’ve judged in Poland already, which was really different, and I’d love to see more of the world through this role.” To keep her home program running smoothly while she travels, she’s currently hiring for an assistant trainer. Most of her current horses are up-and-coming, so they need someone who can keep the training consistent when she’s away.

While Valerie isn’t naming any specific Olympic goals just yet, she acknowledges that her role as a judge may one day be the way she contributes to the sport at the highest level. “My horses are young. They won’t be ready in time for some of the major events on the horizon, but maybe judging is the role I can play on the world stage.”

For now, Valerie is happy balancing both parts of her career. She plans competition schedules around judging commitments and vice versa; sometimes she’ll judge an event one year and return to ride in it the next. “I don’t have eight advanced horses, and that’s by design. I want to do both well.”

Valerie Pride and Favian salute the judge at the inaugural Maryland 5 Star. Photo by Shannon Brinkman.

QUICK TAKES WITH VAL

Best judging advice she’s ever received:
“Don’t second guess yourself. Trust your gut, and be fair.”

One rule riders consistently misunderstand:
“The flag rule. What you see on video or feel when riding isn’t always what the officials see from the ground.”

Favorite venue to judge at:
“Kentucky. It’s just magic.”

Dressage ring pet peeves:
“Late flying changes. Riders going into the corners on serpentines. People switching their whip during a direction change — how do the horses not just run off??”

by Anya Ostrovsky for Athletux

The ‘Chimp Paradox’: Simon Grieve Silences the Inner Critic at Defender Burghley

By on Sep 5, 2025 10:30 am -

Simon Grieve and Autograf. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

It’s a topic that plagues us all: we experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, even at the smallest levels of the sport, but the drug that is eventing keeps us coming back, dogged try after dogged try — even when our inner dialogue tells us it’s the last thing we should be doing. Simon Grieve knows this feeling all too well, but thanks to, frankly, being open and candid about it and finding his sentiments echoed back to him, he’s starting to conquer that ever-chatty monkey on his back. Inside his own journey through mental hurdles lies inspiration for us all to take with us.

It wasn’t a specific incident that knocked Simon, but he’ll be the first to tell you that he struggled with a bit of a “crisis of confidence” earlier this season.

“I don’t know why it happened,” he mused. “I’ve had lots of crashes and lots of falls in the past, and I’ve got straight back on, cracked on, and been absolutely fine. This time I don’t know why it happened — it was just suddenly in my brain.”

He’d retired on cross country in the 4*-S at Thoresby’s Spring Carnival in March with his Burghley mount, Autograf. Straight after, Simon went to consult a sports psychologist. “It was all me,” he said, noting that he also enlisted the help of Chris Bartle for some lessons to help set him back on the right track.

Simon put the help he got from that support team to practice at Burnham Market the following month: “I rode like a demon,” he laughed. “And he was amazing. We were amazing. You know when you finish, you’re like, ‘my God, that was brilliant’? That was us that day.”

Simon Grieve and Autograf. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Momentum is a very real thing in sport, and Simon’s been able to take that momentum forward to now, on the cusp of Autograf’s first 5* cross country and his rider’s first Burghley since 2019.

“It started off a little bit not so great, but we’ve blossomed together,” Simon said. “He was fabulous around Hartpury last time out. So yeah, I’m feeling like we’re prepared in a good way, and really happy about Saturday.”

As with any elite pursuit, it can sometimes become difficult to silence the inner critic, the “chimp” on your back who tells you that you’re total shit, that you shouldn’t even be trying, that if things aren’t perfect, they aren’t good.

“It’s the Chimp Paradox, isn’t it? My chimp was definitely having a chat back then,” Simon said. “He was saying, ‘You’re rubbish, you can’t do this.’ So I had to shut him up.”

He says that changing his inner dialogue has made a world of a difference.

“A few years ago, I was riding a horse I wasn’t confident on, and I remember having a conversation with myself: ‘Right, you’re allowed to be as scared as you like all week, up until Saturday morning. Friday night, you can ring everyone and say, Oh God, this is terrifying, I’m so scared. But on Saturday morning, you’re going to wake up and you’re going to be professional. You’re going to say, This is my job, I’m going to do a good job, and I’m just going to get on with it.'”

That, he says, “is exactly what happened. I was talking to my sports psychologist this week, and I said that that’s what had happened, and I was like, ‘it’s really random!’ She was like, ‘yeah, that’s actually a thing — you’ve got to keep your chimp really busy and get it tired, and then off you go!'”

 

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Simon, who recently started a YouTube channel and also co-hosts the Shut Up and Ride Podcast, started to share these struggles with his followers, and what he found validated the notion that this was not a unique struggle. “I think the more I talk to people about it — and actually I’ve put a lot of it online, on my YouTube channel and that kind of stuff — lots of people have messaged me about it. It’s exactly the same for them, from all levels. Whether it’s from doing a 70cm all the way up to top level, I’ve had people saying, ‘Oh my God, I’ve had exactly the same thing.’ We don’t really talk about it, and it’s really important that we do.”

As for his tactics to keep that chimp quiet? After that Burghley, and that chat with his sports psychologist, he knows that he’s got to tire him out for the next couple of days. “I’m going to try and do just that this week — talk about how scared I am!”

While a five-star debut, as this week is for thirteen-year-old Autograf,  is always a voyage into the unknown, there’s a little bit of familiarity he’s bringing with him that feels like something of a lucky charm, too.

“I was hacking out with Will Rawlin on Wednesday and he said, ‘you definitely have a type, don’t you?’ Because Autograf is a little brown horse who’s so like Drumbilla Metro, who went around here a couple of times,” he smiled.

We’re wishing Simon and Autograf the best of weekends. They’ve started off with a 37.8 in the dressage yesterday and will now look ahead to tackling cross country tomorrow — with any luck, without any extra primate passengers.

Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]

The Power of Patience: Alexander Tordoff Comes Full Circle at Defender Burghley

By on Sep 5, 2025 10:13 am -

Alexander Tordoff and Cool Jack. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

When Alexander Tordoff was 15, he wrote in to Pony Magazine. “I am hoping to be an eventer when I grow up,” he wrote, submitting a photo of himself and his horse, Luigi, on cross country along with bit.

Alex grew up right in the area around the famed Burghley House. He’d come to watch Burghley each year, and also rode in Pony Club, which brought him to the grounds with a horse that was…challenging, to say the least, for the first time over a decade ago.

Now, in 2025, he’s brought Cool Jack (a horse purchased for less than £4,000) back here for his Burghley debut, and even with two phases to go, Alex admits: “What a weird week it’s been.”

It hasn’t been a straight road to this debut, not by a long shot. In fact, Alex, shared with me, he almost quit riding at one point altogether because he’d had so much trouble with Cool Jack — a horse very much with a mind of his own.

“When I was about 15 or 16, I couldn’t ride him,” Alex said. “I’d be at home on my own, and every time I got him, he’d walk 10 meters, and he’d throw me on the floor. I remember coming inside saying, ‘Mum, you’ve bought this horse and I can’t ride it. I just keep falling off him.’ Mum basically said, ‘Tough cookie—crack on. I’m not buying you another one.'”

Alex enlisted the help of multiple local professionals, most of whom also couldn’t get a tune out of the lanky gray gelding. “They’d come in, get on him, fall off, and just immediately leave the arena,” Alex chuckled ruefully. It was a discouraging time, and for a rider who held lofty ambitions of one day reaching the top of the sport, the hill to climb looked the size of Mt. Everest.

“I mean, I used to get up, one day I’d lunge, one day I’d ride,” he recalled. “I’d wake up on the days I’d have to ride him, and I’d have a knot in my stomach. On lunging days, I’d think, ‘Oh my God, this is a great day!'”

Manifestation: Exhibit A. And also a great branding opportunity for “Boy Eventer,” which, yes, is still Alex’s Twitter handle.

Then, Alex went out to work for Ros Canter. It was before Ros Canter was THE Ros Canter — “it was more just her and I riding in a field, before she became World Champion.” Here, Alex and Cool Jack finally found their stride together.

“Ros was the one who got him going, and also said, ‘Don’t stress—he’s actually quite good,'” Alex said. “She’s just the most incredible horseman. Just the amount of time and patience it took. Once he trusts you, he’s on your side. He’d throw himself off a cliff, he’d jump the Grand Canyon if you asked him too. And he even wouldn’t be the most scopey horse, but he just tries so hard. She was the one who taught me the most about just giving him opportunities and take it really slow, like really slowly. Eventually, I managed to get on, stay on, and then he was great. He still has those traits, though.”

It wasn’t magic or a secret sauce, working with Ros. It was simply an emphasis on patience, and on taking things back to basics and going as slow as needed to make even the smallest modicum of progress. In all, it represented a turning point. The horse was six when Alex brought him to Ros; he’s now 17, preparing for his second 5* start. And while he’s come on impressively, Alex warns, he’s still not an easy ride. He’s still sharp as a tack.

“It’s been a case of slowly, slowly. I still fall off him all the time!” Alex continued. “Like, even at Burgham, the show before this, I got on him, and within 30 seconds in the stables, I was on the floor. He’s so quick. Some days in the stable, you look at him and you’re about to tack him up, and he just gives you a look, and you know, ‘Oh, I’ll ride you later.’ You can’t even catch him in the stables sometimes. He’s the sharpest horse in the world.”

And so it comes to this: a debut at Burghley, so many years after the dream first germinated, and not without its own stress. Most riders come to Burghley with plenty of anticipatory anxiety about the cross country. For Alex, the stress was front-loaded with the first phase. He’s been eliminated in the dressage before, and with all of the aforementioned sharpness, it’s easy to guess why the pair would have some anxiety associated with this phase.

Alexander Tordoff and Cool Jack. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“I’ve been more nervous to do that than I will be tomorrow!” a relieved Alex said, talking to the media after scoring a 41.7. “That’s how much he finds it so hard. Like yesterday, when I was riding in here, you couldn’t get a tune out of him. So yeah, we’re not at the front, and obviously it’s frustrating for me—-I like to be competitive.”

As his journey “back” to Burghley comes full circle, Alex is trying to take it all in (while also doing his best to stay seated on his horse). “I’m trying to keep him in one piece in there, and at the same time trying to take it all in. And the sun’s out, so it couldn’t be any better. It’s my first time being here. I’ve grown up here. I’ve come every day of every year since I can remember. So yeah, mixed emotions—more relief.”

Near the stables for the 5* competitors are the jumps Alex used to chuck himself over with Cool Jack back in the day. It’s been a week full of feelings already, and should they get the cross country done tomorrow, the floodgates will likely open. “It’s so weird hacking out past all the little knee-high fences I was trying to throw myself over on him years ago,” Jack chuckled. “And he’s not been back here since. It’s the weirdest thing-—being here in the same field where we camped our lorries, where we did our show jumping. So bizarre. Every morning I wake up and have to remind myself. It’s just been the weirdest week. It’s brilliant though.”

Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]

“I’m Here to Win”: Tim Price Leads Friday Morning at Defender Burghley

By on Sep 5, 2025 8:45 am -

Tim Price and Vitali. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Before the start of Friday’s morning dressage session at Defender Burghley, pockets of the media centre buzzed with chatter about what we might see before the lunch break. Yesterday’s competition, after all, had delivered a not insignificant spate of personal bests and happy surprises – and if the judges continued on their jolly form and carried on rewarding the good work they saw in front of them, what might they do when Burghley record-holders Tim Price and Vitali entered the arena? Could we see something better even than the 18.7 that secured them that accolade in 2023? Would anyone put their money on a 16? 

If they had, they might be smarting a bit right now – but although Tim and the whippety Vitali weren’t among the group of PB-earners this morning, they still easily stole the lead from Thursday frontrunners Piggy March and MCS Maverick (25.7) with their 23.1. 

“He’s super. We know he’s a class dressage horse, and he has all the ingredients for a really, really hot test,” says Tim. “It’s funny, because sometimes he’s been quite unrideable and scores really well. Sometimes really rideable and scores not so well—and vice versa. So it’s all over the place. It’s a little bit down to what the judges are looking for on the day. But from my point of view: rideability, super. Relaxation, lovely. Just a great partnership on display, and he went through all the motions.”

The clincher for their score? That ease of rideability and togetherness, which isn’t always the case with the talented but quirky fifteen-year-old. The barrier to an even lower score? Primarily, that rested on one near-mistake in the first shoulder-in, which only pulled their marks down as low as a 6.5, but, perhaps, held the judges back from flinging big earners at them for a moment or two thereafter.

That temporary loss of momentum in the movement is one that Tim didn’t expect to experience today – but it’s not a wholly unfamiliar one.

“That first shoulder-in, he was thinking of halting,” he explains. “He’s been doing that a bit at the one-day events, but he doesn’t typically bring that to the bigger shows when you spend quite a bit of time on the centre line in the week. But at the one-days, I’ll come up the centre line and he’s like, ‘are we stopping? Are we stopping?’ I’m like, ‘No, I will tell you when we stop!’ So I came to the shoulder in, and he was sort of going to stop – I’m like, ‘mate, we’ve only just started!’ Anyway, other than that, it was fine and really nice and really fun.”

Tim Price and Vitali. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Elsewhere in the test, there was plenty to like from the extravagant little horse – but, says Tim with a grin, “no course errors is always the first highlight! Turn right, turn left, stop, go – after you’ve got that, it’s just about being able to deliver in the ring what I know he’s capable of, which isn’t always what we get at the end of the day.”

After nearly five years, seven five-stars, and an Olympics together, Tim came into today’s test knowing he couldn’t be complacent, even though the lead-up to his performance had gone smoothly. 

“He’s been lovely all week, but at Badminton he was lovely all week and then I went in and he flipped out, and I just had to sit there and be a bit of a passenger,” he says. “But here, he was rideable – he kinked a little and had a look at the atmosphere, and then he came back to me.”

Though Vitali’s CV is stacked with major competitions and successes, including second place here last year, he’s a horse that’s been run relatively sparingly with a focus on his major goals. That’s a system that Tim has honed to suit the gelding, but his attention to detail, and keeping Vitali at his best, extends beyond just his calendar of competitions into each run’s preparation. One thing that’s worked particularly well for the Holsteiner? Cutting right back on his flatwork in the lead-up to a big occasion.

“I just try to have him really fit and healthy in his body,” says Tim. “It’s something that’s often overlooked, but I try to back off them in the last couple of weeks just to freshen their bodies up. When everything’s in there [training-wise] you’ve got to trust in that – then you can hop back on and they feel good and healthy and happy to work. Every horse is different, and we just work away and try to figure out the keys to every individual.”

Tim comes to Burghley having win the world’s foremost CCI4*-S, CHIO Aachen, with Vitali this summer – and though the gelding has signed away several five-star victories in the final phase, his rider is laser-focused on getting it all to come together this week, one stride at a time. 

“I’m here to win,” he says. “It’s not by accident that we get ourselves in a position to win every time. You can flip [the notion of heartbreak] on its head and say that we have heartbreak because we’re in a position to win the competition numerous times now, so there are a lot of good things happening. I just need to perfect the final phase, but I think we’ve been coming on strength and strength with that. I don’t get philosophical; I just need a bit of time to recover from the disappointment of the one before, and then when I come back, I’m ready for it. I’m up for it and confident that we’re going to do a good job.”

Tom Crisp and Dassett Rock Star. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

 

So perhaps we didn’t get the record-breaking score that had been casually prophesied in this morning’s competition – but we did get the privilege of continuing to witness horses and riders who aren’t always first-phase contenders reversing their own fortunes. Foremost among them? Burghley old hand Tom Crisp, who slotted neatly into provisional fourth place behind Piggy March and MCS Maverick and Alex Bragg and Ardeo Premier after delivering a 28.5 with Dassett Rock Star – the eleven-year-old’s five-star personal best by six penalties, and Tom’s own Burghley best after a career full of great runs here. 

“We’re very rarely at this end of the leaderboard after dressage,” laughs Tom, who finished ninth here in 2022 with Liberty and Glory. “It feels a bit strange, but I could get used to it!”

Though Dassett Rock Star only has one prior CCI5* test under his belt – a 34.9 at Badminton this spring – his four-star form has shown tantalising glimpses of what could be in this phase. The pair went sub-30 at Blenheim CCI4*-L last year, and in the eight- and nine-year-old CCI4*-S there the year prior, but otherwise, they’ve explored the full range of the 30s. Today, though, it all fell into place.

“I knew we could do it, and I’ve been working hard at home with Sune Hansen at Spring Hill Dressage,” says Tom. “He’s helped me a lot, just to be a bit more confident and really go for it, and if you make a mistake, you make a mistake. But I think you’re better off setting off thinking you can go for it and make a mistake than just being a bit too careful, which is probably what I’ve been guilty of for a few years. But this horse is very capable of doing a good test, and today it came together. So we’re really, really chuffed.”

As he was warming up for his test, Tom felt that his young horse was performing at his best – but he was quick to temper his own enthusiasm. 

“The mistake sometimes is you can just do too much [when they feel good],” he says. “So I just took a walk. I thought, ‘this guy can do it, and I don’t want to make him tired,’ because he’s still a bit big and weak in places. So we just tried it, and today we pulled it off. He was with me the whole way; kept his head in the game. He nailed all of his changes — and it’s so easy just to miss one of them, and that’s a mark gone, isn’t it? So yeah, we’ll take it this time.”

The confidence that Sune has been helping to instill in Tom is the key to the huge difference in those two five-star scores.

“I think at Badminton I was just a bit careful, and he missed a couple of changes. He wasn’t far off, actually. Here I was just a little bit more like, ‘let’s just go for it.’  You only have to get one leg off in a halt and miss a change, and you’re in the 30s straight away. So it’s just having the confidence. So I think rounds like that, and tests like that, they’re all going to help with both mine and the horse’s confidence on the flat, I’m sure.”

Max Warburton and Deerpairc Revelry. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Will Rawlin and Ballycoog Breaker Boy now sit fifth on their score of 28.8, while newcomers to the top ten in Max Warburton and Deerpairc Revelry take sixth at this stage on a smart 29.1 – a return to the first-phase form that saw them smash out an international personal best (at that stage) of 28.9 here last year. While we didn’t get a chance to grab Max for a catch-up – yet! – it’s worth noting that he and the rangy eleven-year-old posted their new international PB of 24.2 en route to winning the Aston-le-Walls CCI4*-S in July, and we expect we’ll see plenty more of them this week. 

Katie Magee and Treworra. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Just behind Max in seventh place is, perhaps, the most hotly-tipped Burghley debutant of this year’s field. Katie Magee has had her head down working away quietly – and successfully – on building up her eventing career and string over the last couple of decades, and although she had an entry in at Burghley back in 2019 with another horse, a series of setbacks meant that she wouldn’t make her five-star debut until 2024, when she finished thirteenth at Pau with a then-ten-year-old Treworra. This spring, they headed to Badminton, and went two better for a hugely impressive eleventh place. En route to Burghley, they fulfilled an entry in the British Open Championship Advanced class at Hartpury, which historically serves as an excellent prep run for this event, and handily won the whole thing and that coveted British title. 

Now, they find themselves soaking up the sunshine and the thrill of finding themselves in the top ten after their dressage test, which earned them a 29.3 – their first five-star sub-30 and further evidence that their upward trajectory isn’t anywhere close to slowing down. 

“It felt amazing!” beams Katie, who trains with fellow Northern good egg Nicola Wilson. “It’s a very special arena to ride into, and the crowd gives it that extra bit of atmosphere in there. I’ve watched Badminton and Burghley every year, from as young as I can remember. When a partnership goes as well as it possibly can, it’s quite emotional. And I think that’s what I wanted — probably more than success – it’s that, when you really have done your very best, and the horse has too, it’s pretty special.”

Like Tom ahead of her, Katie’s success today comes down to a newfound resolve to tackle the test with confidence, rather than just trying to get it done. 

“I’m really pleased that I managed not to faff about in the changes,” she laughs. “I’m a little protective at times, and it’s about trying to go for those higher marks and be more positive instead of just surviving the test. That’s a new mentality for me, riding a horse of this caliber.”

That horse, the affable and enormous Wilf, is more than just a competition partner for Katie – he’s part of the family, and has always been someone she’s believed immensely in. 

“To be honest, he’s just one of those horses,” she smiles. “He walked onto the yard and I just thought, ‘wow, you’re something!’ It’s all just been time for him. We always knew how smart he was on the flat, but he needed to strengthen, and that can’t be rushed, so it’s been a patience game.

“He’s funny – he’s quite chilled, but he has his odd little spook just to remind you he’s a superstar,” she continues. “He just has a sense of humour, but he’s lovely. He goes out with my old 16-year-old in the field and snoozes most of the day. My son can lead him around. He’s a lovely horse, and he’s beautiful to look at, which helps. He’s a good 17.2, so he’s tall and we’ve just let him strengthen this last year, and it’s made such a difference to him.”

The partnership she’s built with him is her primary focus this week – much more important than the noise and chatter about her recent form or what the leaderboard might look like on Sunday. 

“To be honest, I’m just forgetting about it as best I can,” she says. “It is a bit of a different feeling, but at the end of the day, it’s me and Wilf against the course tomorrow, and that’s all that matters, and I hope I can do him justice. He’s amazing, so I wouldn’t want to be on anything else. I said to my husband Kieran, I wouldn’t want to come here if I didn’t have that. This is no place to come if you don’t have an amazing partnership and an amazing horse — and he ticks all the boxes, so I’m a very lucky person.”

Laura Collett and Bling. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.

Thursday morning’s leaders David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed hold eighth place on their 29.6, and tenth is the domain of Harry Meade and his second of three rides, yesterday afternoon’s Cavalier Crystal (30.5), sandwiching new arrivals Laura Collett and Bling into ninth on 30.2. This is another enormous five-star personal best for the twelve-year-old: in her sole previous test at the level at Badminton this spring, she posted a 37.8.

“I’m absolutely over the moon with her,” says Laura. “She doesn’t find dressage easy — she’s not built to do dressage — but she really tried, and she really stayed with me in there. How much she’s improved in the few months since Badminton is amazing, really. And it’s exciting, because she’s still nowhere near the finished article, so if we can keep going in this way and keep improving, then it’s very exciting for the future.”

Bling was initially bred by her owner, Yvonne Ferguson, to be her husband’s hunter – “she went out as a four-year-old and that was the end of her career,” laughs Laura – but has gone from strength to strength in her second career, despite, or perhaps because of, some educational mistakes along the way.

“She’s been a brilliant horse so far,” says Laura, who took her on as a seven-year-old. “I always thought she had it in there. She’s so scopey, she loves cross country. It’s just been about getting the rideability on her. Any mistakes she’s had cross country have purely been through her just grabbing a bit and thinking she knows best.

“But she’s beginning — touch wood! — to think that maybe I tell her to turn for a reason. She was phenomenal around Badminton. She had one little green moment at the step, which was totally genuine — a green mistake from her. The way she turned around and jumped off it the next time for me was almost more exciting, because she trusted me. It just took her by surprise. It wasn’t anything naughty, she just didn’t quite understand how she got from the top to the bottom. She’s come on so much, and in her two runs since then, she’s been fantastic. Fingers crossed she’s up for it tomorrow!”

We’ll be heading back to the main arena for the final hurrah between the boards at 14.00 local time (9.00 a.m. EST), with New Zealand’s Jesse Campbell and Cooley Lafitte getting us back underway. We’ll be back at the close of play with another jam-packed report, and in the meantime, head over to our Ultimate Guide for plenty more stories from beyond the top ten. Go Eventing!

Many thanks to Kentucky Performance Products for their support of our Defender Burghley coverage! Click here to learn all about their science-backed and time-tested nutritional support products for horses.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Timetable] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [CrossCountry App XC Map] [EN’s Coverage]