William Fox Pitt & Seacookie in the Show Jumping at the 2010Burghley Horse Trials
(photo by the unbelievable Nico Morgan)
With the spring season well underway in the US, and rapidly approaching in the UK, we inevitably start to think about our spring four star events, Rolex and Badminton. For each continent, these competitions are the highlight of the season, if not the whole year. Who will be entered this year? Who will go away with the top prize? While I always hope for a home-town victory at Rolex, I almost never regret seeing the masterful competition from across the pond whip us into shape either. However, this year, our two spring four-stars have a bit more intrigue than usual.
For a bit of background, the Rolex Grand Slam is a title for any rider who wins in succession the three premiere CCI**** events — the US’s Rolex Kentucky, the UK’s Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials and Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials. There is a $350,000 prize for the rider who is able to complete this feat. The Grand Slam has only been won once: by Pippa Funnell in 2003, after she won Badminton, Kentucky and Burghley in one amazing year. In 2006 Andrew Hoy almost did it when he won Kentucky and Badminton in the spring and led going into the show jumping at Burghley, but faults there dropped him to second. Oliver Townend got tantalisingly close in 2010, dodging the Icelandic ash cloud to get to Kentucky, only to suffer a crashing fall with Ashdale Cruise Master.
The first exciting part of this is that 2013 could very well be the year in which we see another Grand Slam victory, by none other than the indomitable William Fox Pitt. Having won Burghley in 2011 (for the record 6th time) on Parklane Hawk, and Rolex last year on the same exact horse, he was positioned to win a Grand Slam at Badminton 2012….until it was cancelled due to absurd amounts of rain. It was then determined that in order to win the title, he would have to wait 12 months until Badminton 2013. Let’s just ponder for a moment not only how insane it would be to win the Grand Slam, but he might even be able to do it on the same horse for all three competitions.
As if this wasn’t all that exciting enough, things could get really crazy if a certain person wins Rolex this year. Of course, if we’re talking about Eventing superpowers/superstars, we can’t go much further without mentioning Andrew Nicholson. Andrew could very well be positioned to challenge William for the Grand Slam title. Having won Burghley last year on Avebury, he could very well be primed to win Rolex as well, in which case Badminton would be the most exciting event for many years to come. Let’s be real here folks, if anybody can do it, Andrew Nicholson is the guy who could pull that rabbit out of the hat.
No matter what, this spring promises to be very exciting, and if Andrew Nicholson wins Rolex, I don’t know who I’d bet on to win the Grand Slam. Both of these riders are flawless at that level, and it would be truly a treat to see one of them bring home the sport’s most illustrious prize. Rolex is only 9 weeks away, and Badminton 10 weeks, so get ready, Eventing Nation!
