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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