Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh at Badminton. Photo by Jenni Autry.
Entries for the Badminton Horse Trials have been released, and no U.S. or Canadian riders will compete at the event this year. With the final selection trials for the U.S. Pan American Games squad taking place the same weekend as Badminton at Jersey Fresh International Horse Trials in New Jersey, all U.S. riders are staying stateside.
Entries are noticeably down for Badminton this year after Giuseppe della Chiesa’s new cross country course caused quite a stir with its debut in 2014. There are 104 entries for the event this year, down from 141 last year, which makes this one of the smaller Badminton fields in recent years.
But there are still plenty of horses and riders to be excited about! Last year’s winners Sam Griffiths and Paulank Brockagh will return this year, along with the 2013 winners Jock Paget and Clifton Promise. There are also a number of horses entered that have previously won other four-stars:
- William Fox-Pitt and Cool Mountain, Rolex 2010
- Mary King and King’s Temptress, Rolex 2011
- William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk, Rolex 2012
- Andrew Nicholson and Nereo, Pau 2012
- Andrew Nicholson and Avebury, Burghley 2012, 2013 and 2014
- Chris Burton and TS Jamaimo, Adelaide 2013
- Tim Price and Wesko Wesko, Luhmühlen 2014
- Ingrid Klimke and Horseware Hale Bob, Pau 2014
Nick Gauntlett has entered Crown Talisman, Doug Payne’s former ride, so we will at least have an American-bred horse to cheer on throughout the weekend! Bred in Maryland by Martha Thomas, the 12-year-old Holsteiner/Thoroughbred gelding just finished 16th at Fontainebleau CICO3* this past weekend.
Horse & Hound reports that the following cross-entered combinations are more likely to compete at Kentucky instead of Badminton: William Fox-Pitt and Bay My Hero, Zara Phillips and High Kingdom, Tim Price and Wesko, Francis Whittington and Easy Target, and Nicola Wilson and Annie Clover.
Michael Jung and Andreas Dibowski do not appear on the Badminton entry list, which means they are almost certainly coming to the U.S. to compete at Rolex next month; their names are still not on the official Kentucky entry list.
Fourteen horses are currently on the wait list, including Mary King and King’s Temptress, and all of them are likely to make it off, as Badminton typically accepts at least that many entries off the wait list each year.
