Defender Burghley Field Thinned By One at First Horse Inspection

Burghley pathfinders Harry Meade and Superstition. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Nothing feels quite as back-to-school — in a nice way, not in an ‘I really hope I don’t cry in calculus this year’ way — than the Defender Burghley Horse Trials. Nearly always blessed with a bit of late-summer sunshine and a bold, diverse field of entries, it comes at that glorious cusp of the seasons that feels gilded. Gilded by that almost-autumnal light; gilded by the turning of the leaves; gilded, metaphorically speaking, by the rich history of the place and all its myriad stories, both micro and macro, that have played out at the event over six decades, and on the estate over six centuries.

France’s Gaspard Maksud and Kan-Do 2 make one of today’s great shows of purple-and-white styling — a sweet nod, no doubt, to much-missed Georgie Campbell. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

But even though that’s some hefty significance to bear, the other thing that always feels so notable about Burghley is the general air of relaxation. That feels like an odd way to put it, doesn’t it — it’s a five-star, after all, and not just any five-star, but the most dimensionally colossal one in the calendar, with a ditch you can park a, well, Defender in. But we’re in the final gasps of the 2024 season, which ends at the closing of October, and so all of us — riders, grooms, owners, supporters, members of the media, and spectators alike — are well bedded in. We’ve seen one another week in and week out. We’ve got no rust left to knock off. We’re aware, though in denial about it, that soon, we’ll all be battening down the hatches and pulling out the winter woollies, convening when we can at hunt balls and charity balls and end-of-season parties, but otherwise, back in our boxes until spring. So it always feels, here, like we’re enjoying it for exactly what it is. And that’s nice! We like that!

That’s not to say, though, that the week is without its tensions. They still come thick and fast, and this evening’s first horse inspection gave us our first taste of what the British quite charmingly (?) call ‘squeaky bum time’.

67 horses and their riders presented to a Ground Jury consisting of Paris judge Christina Klingspor (SWE), serving as president, Robert Stevenson (USA) and Nick Burton (GBR) — but at the end of the day, it’ll be 66 who’ll continue on to the competition. Three horses were sent to the holding box, where a quite remarkably thorough job was done of their examination by the vet, and while two of them — Switzerland’s Nadja Minder and Toblerone, and US representatives Andrew McConnon and Wakita 54 — re-presented and were accepted into the competition, one, British fan favourites Tom Crisp and his seventeen-year-old homebred Liberty and Glory, decided to withdraw.

Tom Crisp and Liberty and Glory. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“It’s not going to be our Burghley this year. L&G was not her usual quirky self and simply just feels a bit off. Or in our case a suspected bruised foot. It was an easy decision not to represent, you can’t tackle a track like this without feeling 100% and she would undoubtedly give it her all,” writes Tom on his social media pages. “Huge thanks to everyone for their understanding and support[.] Gutted but also grateful and honoured to have achieved some wonderful results with this remarkable little mare around this track. She owes us nothing, and can come home for lots of pampering and a bit of R&R.”

Tom McEwen and CHF Cooliser, and also a serious bit of hat. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

British footwear behemoth Fairfax & Favor once again awarded best-dressed prizes to two competitors: Tom McEwen, who’ll pilot Vicky Bates and David Myers’ fourteen-year-old CHF Cooliser (Womanizer x Ramiro B) took one of them, while Bella Innes Ker, who’ll ride the twelve-year-old Highway II (Baltic VDL x Voltaire Pref), who she co-owns with Benjamin Chan and Milly Soames, won the other.

Bella Innes Ker and Highway II. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Tomorrow sees the first half of the entries take to the dressage ring, starting with a guinea pig test from Kitty King and her 2018 Six-Year-Old World Champion Cristal Fontaine, which will serve to get the judges’ eyes in and objectives aligned ahead of the real deal — and will give Cristal Fontaine the chance to practice his ringcraft ahead of a planned trip to Boekelo next month. The first competitors in the ring will be Great Britain’s Harry Meade and the first of his three rides, Superstition, who’ll be entering at A at 9.30 a.m. local time/4.30 a.m. EST. He’ll be followed into the ring by last year’s Pau winners, Ros Canter and Izilot DHI, which should give you some idea of the incredible quality of this year’s entries.

Mia Farley and Phelps. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

If you’re tuning in specifically to support the strong US field of entries, and want to manage your sleeping/live-streaming life-balance, you’ll be able to see them in action at the following times:

14.07 BST/9.07 a.m. EST: Jennie Brannigan and FE Lifestyle

15.34 BST/10.34 a.m. EST: Mia Farley and Phelps

The full starting times for tomorrow can be found here, and Friday’s line-up can be perused here.

There’s just one place to get the live-stream for this week’s competition, and that’s Burghley TV, so if you see anyone on Facebook promising you access to a stream at any other link, even if it looks like it might be a Burghley profile, don’t click it – instead, head direct to the source and get your subscription sorted for a one-off payment of £20 (that’s about $25). That’ll give you each day’s live-stream, plus magazine highlights programmes, the full course preview, and access to jam-packed archives going back decades, too. You’ll be able to use the service for one year from sign-up, and truly, it is the gold standard of event streaming subscription packages, so whether you’re blocking out time to watch it all as it happens or catching it on-demand later, you’ll find you get plenty of bang for your buck here. You can also tune into Burghley Radio for free here. We’ll be bringing you wall to wall coverage of the competition here at EN, too, with plenty of supplementary content and in-depth reports, too, starting in tomorrow’s lunch-break. Until then, you can head over to our Ultimate Guide for a quick and easy round-up of all the info and links you need, plus all our coverage.

Go Eventing!

Our coverage of Burghley is brought to you by our incredible supporters, Kentucky Performance Products, your one-stop shop for science-backed nutritional products to keep your horse feeling their best at all times. They’ll even get on the phone with you to help you formulate a solid supplementation plan for your horse’s individual needs! We’d really appreciate your support of KPP, as they’re champions for our sport and beyond and are wonderful people to boot. Check them out here.

Defender Burghley: [Website] [Entries] [Timing & Scoring] [Burghley TV] [Tickets] [Cross Country Preview] [EN’s Coverage]