Ariel Grald and Leamore Master Plan. Photo by Nico Morgan Media.
One of the major events returning to the calendar after a pandemic hiatus this year is the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, set to take place in the first week of September (1–4) – and while we’re used to waiting until an entry list has been fully formed before we’re allowed to see it, this year, we’re getting to watch it take shape in real time. Since the list appeared this morning, we’ve already seen seven horse-and-rider combinations make themselves known, including two for the US – Emily Hamel and Corvett will make their debut at the Lincolnshire fixture after running at Badminton this spring and spending the summer based in the UK, while Meghan O’Donoghue and her game ex-racehorse Palm Crescent are tacking Burghley onto their first trip abroad, which saw them compete at Germany’s CHIO Aachen earlier this month.
Elsewhere on the fledgling list, we’ve got an Australian combination making the long journey over in Sarah Clark and LV Balou Jeans, a sophomore five-star for Great Britain’s Rose Nesbitt and EG Michealangelo, who completed Badminton this year, and level debuts for both Kate Shapland and Uris Cavalier and Kristina Hall-Jackson and CMS Google. We’ll also see a return to the level for Richard Skelt and Credo III, who competed at the last running of Burghley in 2019 and its replacement fixture at Bicton last year, though are still chasing their first completion.
While it’s very early days yet, and we’ll see a number of otherwise likely Burghley entries save their legs for a trip to Pratoni’s World Championships later in the month, we’re expecting a seriously exciting line-up for the first renewal of this big, bold, and inarguably iconic event in three years. You can keep an eye on entries as they roll in here — and let us know in the comments who you’re hoping to see join the list!
