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Cross Country Course Notes – by Captain Mark Phillips, Course Designer
The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials first year without Steeplechase has meant some radical new changes with the Cross Country course beginning with a 'made for TV Start and Finish' in the members' car park in front of Burghley House.
The Overture (1) a tribute to Lord Exeter who helped start this great Event, has found a new home as horses leave Ring 2 and head towards the House. A brand new Flower Frame (2) looks big and impressive with Burghley's Golden Gate as a backdrop. The Turrets (3) continues the trend of the jumps getting bigger and bigger and are the last of the warm up fences before coming into the Arena.
The Land Rover Landscapes (4) in the Arena is where the fun starts. The Trailer is not so difficult but how they jump it will determine their success at The Fountain which sports much more airborne water this time. The decorative Rock Garden is something of a let up in deference to this earlier than normal visit to the Arena.
The Dolmio Kitchen (5) is the next significant test. The first mushroom looks daunting with its downhill approach and proved the undoing of more than a few last year and is followed by another mushroom growing out of a ditch which will prove much less forgiving than last year's willows. As ever with all the really difficult fences there is a time consuming scenic tour for the less experienced.
The Land Rover Splash (6) is the first visit to water. The Duck Hide is relatively straightforward but gives something of a blind turn to the eminently missable Greylag Goose sitting on her nest in the water three strides later. The Open Ditch Hedge (7) is as large as ever but unchanged and will come up quite quickly in this intense part of the course as will the brand new Coutts Cascade (8). The GNER Train (9) used to be a let up, but this year riders jump the level crossing barriers which will undoubtedly get the riders' attention.
Capability's Cutting North (10,11) is unchanged but riders should not let familiarity breed contempt as they need a plan either for the attacking four strides between logs or the more conservative five strides. Indecision is not a solution at this one. The Farmyard (12) is something of a let up before the long climb up to Winners' Avenue (13). Here fortune will favour the brave as the two-stride distance is quite long between the two angled hedges. The only decision to be made is whether their horses favour the right or left side as the distances are identical on both.
The enormous Cottesmore Leap (14) remains unchanged and here again there is an alternative for anyone getting tired at the top of the hill. The Egg Basket (15) is a bit of fun and is also unchanged, as is The Land Rover Dairy Farm (16) which was one of last year's most talked about fences as riders debated whether they could make the blind forward three strides turn to the log off the mound, or whether a more conservative approach was more prudent.
Capability's Cutting South (17) is a true let up as competitors get into the serious part of the track. The Rolex Corners (18) are arguably the most difficult fences on the course as the first element in the ditch forces riders to jump the second on an acute angle three strides later with the door wide open for a glance off.
The Maltings (19) is another test of accuracy and scope as this unusual question has more spread than jumpable width. The Pedigree Poser (20) on the Waterloo Plain is an exercise of control and turning ability. Riders will want a forward stride to the rails if they are to avoid the rising ground on landing and get the four-stride bending line to the first corner, before bending back left to the second.
2006 heralds a completely new Land Rover Trout Hatchery (21,22). The first impressive log stands on top of the bank before running down through a piece of water never used before. Horses then roll back on the bank to the more conventional brush into the water, which they have to jump at an angle if they are to get the direct 3 stride distance through the water to the step and bounce out over another hedge again at an angle. This combination of water and steps at an angle has never been seen before.
Herbert's Hedge (23) is a good old-fashioned hunting fence and Thomson's Wall (24) also unchanged will hold few fears. Back below the trade stands to the Discovery Valley (25,26) where riders will need to take a little care as they jump up over the ditch and step at an angle, to bounce over the Trunk being loaded into the Discovery, before turning left over the ditch and wall filled with flowers.
It's then that riders can start thinking of home as they turn over the Trakhener (27) and then descend to the Gnome's House (28) in the bottom of the Leaf Pit. Back by the warm up area above the stables riders will need to steady down for the Galaxy Turn (29,30) where the short turn to the angled viaducts will need a little concentration. It will then be pedal to the metal time as horses gallop back towards the House, before again steadying for Lambert's Sofa (31) and the Land Rover Finale (32) and the finish back in Ring 2.
Even without Steeplechase this is a true Four Star Burghley track and is as big and technical as ever. Those that do well and take home the Land Rover Prize Money will know they have earned their Four Star Laurels!