Wondering what prize money is on offer at Burghley Horse Trials? The Defender Burghley Horse Trials is one of the top events of the year with a suitably impressive prize pot, and therefore attracts the best event riders from across the world.
This year, the winner will take home £120,000, which is an increase of £5,000 from 2025 and just £5,000 less than the prize money allocated to the Badminton winner. The prize money for first place hit the six-figure mark in 2022.
There is additional prize money allocated to some of Burghley’s special prize winners – for example, last year £1,000 was awarded to the breeder of the highest-placed British-bred horse.
The total prize pot for the competition in 2026 is £388,000.
Burghley Horse Trials prize money in 2026
Below are the proposed prizes for the top finishers in the five-star competition. The exact prize money, however, depends on the number of horses that start – this year there are 55 confirmed entries in Burghley’s drawn order.
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Placing
Proposed prize money
1
£120,000
2
£66,000
3
£50,000
4
£36,000
5
£25,000
6
£20,000
7
£16,500
8
£13,000
9
£11,000
10
£10,000
11
£8,000
12
£7,000
13
£5,500
14
£5,000 (53+ starters)
15
£4,000 (57+ starters)
16
£3,500 (61+ starters)
17
£2,500 (65+ starters)
18
£2,000 (69+ starters)
Piggy March and Quantum Leap won the 2025 five-year-old Burghley Young Event Horse Championship
(Image credit: Peter Nixon)
Burghley Young Event Horse prize money
The two Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse classes will be worth a total of £8,000 for 2026, with a first prize of £1,500 for the five-year-old champion and £1,250 for the four-year-old champion. Prizes go down to tenth place.
The prize pot also includes a £100 breeder's prize and £100 for the highest placed mare.
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