A new name will lead Burghley after cross-country, as the dressage leader drops down the order
Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight jump clear three seconds inside the time, while overnight leader Nadja Minder drops down with time penalties
Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight take the overnight lead at the 2026 Defender Burghley Horse Trials after cross-country, finishing three seconds inside the time despite a heart-in-mouth moment at the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit.
Chilli Knight wasn’t fully locked onto the corner, but took it on regardless and made it over. Gemma admits it was as close as it looked.
“It was a seriously dodgy moment,” she said. “He just said, ‘It’s okay, I’ve got you’ and then leapt as far and wide as he possibly could over that corner.
“I’m really sorry to all the people down there, because there was a lot of swearing – and then a lot of me telling him how much I loved him on landing. But that’s what partnership’s about.
“He should never have jumped that fence. I don’t know how he did it – unbelievable.”
From there, the pair pushed on through Defender Valley and into the final combination in the main arena, with Gemma riding to make the time. She crossed the finish three seconds under, with a provisional flag penalty at fence 24f quickly removed on review – confirming a clear round.
The whole track, Gemma says, was a battle against the clock. “Honestly, it felt like a rollercoaster. This way round is so up and down – it just feels like you’re constantly climbing or going downhill, round a corner to another humongous fence, round a corner to another humongous combination. It’s relentless.
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“I kept being down on my minutes, and I was like, ‘I’m never going to get a time.’ Then I managed to claw it back, and then I was down on the next one, and I clawed it back again – I went round the whole course like that.”
At just 16 hands, Chilli Knight is far from an imposing physical presence – something Gemma says makes his performances at the biggest fences even more remarkable. “He's only 16 hands, just a little guy, but he never stops trying. When he gets to a big one, he grows a pair of wings – this whole new little man comes out.”
With the flag penalty cleared, Gemma and Chilli Knight – who were second after dressage – go into the final day at the top of the leaderboard.
Nadja Minder loses her dressage lead
Leaders after the dressage, Nadja Minder and Toblerone finished 33 seconds over the optimum time, dropping them to 51.7 and out of the top spot.
“He's such a five-star warrior now,” Nadja said of the 19-year-old. “It was hard work – I had to use a bit of kicking and elbows and everything to make it happen, but he helped me out so many times. I wish I’d given him a better ride, but it is what it is.
“He’s incredible how he’s not impressed by anything – he just pricks his ears, looks for the flags, front feet up, back feet up, and on we go.”
On what cost her the time, she added: “He’s very adjustable, but he’s not the quickest off the fence – and he’s the kind of horse who, when he feels like he’s getting to his limit, he saves himself.
“You can be kicking, but he‘s not going to go crazy fast until he can‘t any more. He’s always saving something. That’s why he makes it home most of the time.
“He started five-star eventing three years ago, so it’s not like he’s 19 and has seen everything a couple of times already. We try to keep him heavily motivated and do the minimum amount of training we feel he enjoys and is necessary for him.”
On whether this could be one of his last outings, Nadja said: “I originally thought last year was going to be his last time, and then he did that so well and was 100% after, so we thought, let’s prep him for another go. We’ll see – but we probably won’t see him out many more times.”
Max Warburton: “It was slower than we’d all hoped”
Max Warburton, who was fourth after dressage, finished 37 seconds over the time with Deerpairc Revelry.
“It was slower than we’d all hoped,” Max said. “I felt from about halfway, he started to make a little bit of a noise – his wind was maybe not as great as we all thought. So we’ll probably have a look at that, see if we can get that a bit better for next year.
“He’s still only 12, and he's made a trip around a very, very big five-star, so overall we’re over the moon. It’s tough – a little bit towards the end, he got quite long and strung out.
“I had to make a different plan at the Defender Valley [where he took the long route out], which cost more time on top of that. But at that point it was a case of getting him home safely and getting the job done.”
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Oscar joined Horse & Hound in October 2023 and is the magazine’s dressage editor and sports manager, overseeing coverage of equestrian sport. After studying equine science at Myerscough College, he spent four years working for leading dressage rider Emile Faurie, competing at the 2015 National Dressage Championships and travelling with the yard to CDIs including Aachen and Saumur. He holds a master’s degree in Literature from York St John University (2021).