It’s nearing go time for cross country day at Defender Burghley and before we get “stuck in” as many a rider would say, let’s dive into some of the reactions to what Derek di Grazia has rolled out this year.
If you want more in-depth looks at the course, we’ve got you covered! Here’s a fence-by-fence map from CrossCountry App:
The course can also be viewed here. There is also a preview on Burghley TV, which can be accessed here with your subscription.
Here’s some analysis on the course’s intensity this year:
The course has an optimum time of 11:20. Below you’ll find some quotes from riders at Burghley on what they think of the course, and we’ll also mix in a few posts from social media with more analysis and how-to.
Cross country begins at 11:30 a.m. BEST, which is 6:30 a.m. EST. If you need more help with time zone conversions, we recommend using World Time Buddy here, but we’ve added a widget below that should show the start time in your device’s local time zone:
Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com
The cross country order of go can be found here.
Defender Burghley: [Website] [Tickets] [Entries] [Timetable] [Timing & Scoring] [CrossCountry App XC Preview] [EN’s Burghley Field Wiki] [EN’s Ultimate Guide] [Burghley TV] [EN’s Coverage]
Nadja Minder – Toblerone
Nadja Minder and Toblerone. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
On the track and how she feels Toblerone will take to it:
“Well, I think the the cross country looks good. I like it. It looks very intense after the second road crossing, like there is one question after the other, two combinations, the Trout Hatchery and the Leaf Pit — all that is just very intense and not really a breather in between. What is a bit different, the first half of the course. But for me, when I point him in the right direction and we manage the feel the right way, and he’ll be fine.”
Sam Watson – Ballyneety Rocket Man
When asked for some nerdy analysis on some of the fences (he’s the co-founder of EquiRatings, if you didn’t know, so this is an on-brand question to ask Sam at any point in time):
“In the middle of the course, firstly we’ve got five curving lines to a corner, so we’ve got one at the Dairy Mound. You pop down a log, curvy stride there to a corner. We’ve got one of the Pedigree Corners, which I think is really interesting because that’s so blind. We come in over a big box brush with a ditch underneath it, and there’s a corner to our right, and it’s probably going to be quite an open five strides around to it. Some will do six, but that’s so blind when you jump in. I think that’s one of the traps: that it walks lovely, you know. If you’re like, ‘oh, if I build this in my arena, that that walks lovely.’ But you forget how blind you are when you come into it, and that you’re five minutes around Burghley as well, so you’re getting going. Then again, at the Maltings, you come out of there with a curve to a corner, come out of the Trout Hatchery, curve to a corner, and you come off the Leaf Pit and you go curve to a corner. What the curve does is it allows you to make mistakes. It allows you to fall in. It allows you to move the shoulder to the outside. And Derek has just built a very fair track. Probably not as big as last year. Probably not quite as technical, either. But it’s still trappy — and where where I say trappy is not trying to trick horses. He’s allowing riders to make mistakes, and he gives us enough time. There’s not much on two strides. There’s not much on one stride out there. Very little even, I think on three strides, it’s it’s sort of 4, 5, 6, and that gives you time to make an error.”
Matthew Heath – Benedict Radau
On the ground preparation and conditions:
“It’s going to be fantastic. Real good cut in the ground. Best ground I would have ridden on all year by a country mile. They’ve done a fantastic job prior to this rain, and this rain has just really helped boost all the work and hard work that they’ve done. I think the course is presented beautifully. The ground is second to none. You won’t find it anywhere else. I’m 15, 20 minutes up the road, and I can promise you, my place is like the outback. It is completely desert land, and I mean, we’ve had a bit of rain recently — it’s just starting to green up. So for them to get this place, looking how it does, I think, is just a phenomenal effort from them, and hugely appreciated by not just me, by everyone.”
On the track itself:
“I think it’s a really cool track to ride. I can’t wait to go out and have a go. Last year, I felt like there was the one or two things that were maybe a little bit kind of hidden and tricky for Burghley terrain. This year, I think he’s put it there. It’s in front of us. It’s very, very big. It’s very, very technical, and he’s put us on committed lines. I think if we do our jobs right, then the horses will understand the question. It’s just down to us.”
Michael Owen – Monbeg Darwin
On the track itself:
“So comparing to last year, I think it’s a lot smoother where the fences are positioned. There might be a couple more horses nearer the time, not necessarily inside the time, but a lot closer to the time. So I think it’s a lot less — it won’t interfere with your rhythm as much, so it should suit Darwin fine, although he is very adjustable for a big horse, so he’s quite adaptable. So I wasn’t really hoping what kind of course he’d build, but it’s Burghley. The terrain is the things that catch them out, and the cumulative effect of the terrain and the fences. Put them on a flat ground like Aston le Walls, and it’d be easy. But put it here, and it’s a totally different ball game.”
Harry Meade – Cavalier Crystal and Et Hop du Matz
On the track itself:
“Similar routes to last year, very different questions. I think notably, the questions come from beginning to end, not just in the first half, which always used to be the case at Burghley. And things like the Trout Hatchery will come up very quickly, and what happens at element A will affect your ride the rest of the way through. There’s very little time to recover or change your plan. And again, I think that the Leaf Pit is a comparatively straightforward Leaf Pit, but it’s right at the end, so you can’t compare it to a few years ago, when it was very, very difficult, those big brushes that were about fence seven or eight. So I think there’s questions throughout, and it’d be be fun to get stuck into it.”
On the “flavor” or “theme” of this year’s track:
“Probably compared to some of his courses, less forward, attacking. There’s quite a lot of accuracy questions out of not that open a stride. But like all good courses, he’s very much mixed it up — Derek does test everything.”
Gemma Stevens – Chilli Knight
Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
On the track itself and what makes a course a five-star:
“There’s loads of combinations. To be honest, I don’t think there’s one that really stands out as being ‘hello, I’m impossible,’but there are lots and lots of difficult combinations, and I think the cumulative effect of those over the whole course — and there are a few real tricky ones towards the end — I think that’s what makes it a true five-star.”
Tim Price – Falco and Global Quest
Tim Price and Falco. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
On his many years coming to Burghley, and whether it ever becomes easier to ride here:
“Look, the thing about Burghley is walking the course yesterday, I get nervous and I wonder how to do my job, and it’s not many places it’s like that. You know, at other places you’d just be like — I’m not saying it always goes to plan — but the feeling you get walking the courses at Burghley, I’m like, ‘is that actually–? Is it–? Will my horse actually understand?’ You know, you’re questioning everything. So in a funny way there’s a closer relationship with the designer because you trust him and you try to see it through his eyes and the question he’s asking. You refer to that quite — well I refer to that quite a lot, but no, it never it never gets normal.”
On the track itself:
“I think it’s a bit tougher than last year. The ground is fantastic. We’re very lucky with what’s gone into that to give us a good platform to do the job, but I think in terms of the course, I think it’s a little bit more modern. You know, like there’s questions where we’ve got question followed by question and it’s quite intense in that way. It’s a long way round as usual. And the Trout Hatchery, I think, is particularly a big ask at that stage of the track.”
Jesse Campbell – Cooley Lafitte
On the track itself::
“It’s pretty big, but I think it’s quite fair. He lets you in probably a little bit nicer this year. Like I think the Dairy Mound’s a really good fence, and I think it’ll be be cool to ride. There’s some, I think, a couple of fences where, if you get it right, it’s going to be like, just unreal. I think like the Maltings, if you get a good ride there, that’s going to feel like a amazing roller coaster. Same with the Trout Hatchery — I think that could ride really cool. But yeah, it’s beefy all the way up to Leaf Pit, and the Leaf Pit’s a huge question as well. So you have to be on the game.”
More insights from Derek di Grazia himself can also be found on the Eventing Podcast here.
