William Fox-Pitt’s Lionheart ruled out of European Eventing Championships

William Fox-Pitt’s ride Lionheart (pictured) has been withdrawn from the European Eventing Championships at Malmö, Sweden (29 August-1 September).

Judith and Jeremy Skinner’s 11-year-old finished his final outing strongly at Hartpury last weekend, but was then found to have bruised a sole. He is expected to be back in work soon and will run in the CCI4* at Pau, France (23-27 October).

William will now ride Chilli Morning, the 13-year-old chestnut stallion, owned by Chris and Lisa Stone who he took on last year.

The horse had a stop at Kentucky CCI4* in April having led the dressage, but got his mojo back when successfully defending his CCI3* title at Bramham in June.

This is the second significant withdrawal from a British European team within 24 hours, following the news that Laura Tomlinson’s ride Mistral Hojris is out of action.

Read our full report from Hartpury, plus an interview with British European eventing squad member Tom McEwen, in H&H this week, out now. 

Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.