Last year’s winners Bubby Upton and Its Cooley Time head up a strong field of Defender Bramham Horse Trials entries for the CCI4*-L at next month’s event (11-14 June).
Bubby and “Finn” will face tough competition, with 56 Bramham Horse Trials entries for this showcase class at present.
Caroline Powell has re-routed her 2024 Badminton Horse Trials winner Greenacres Special Cavalier to the Yorkshire event after retiring her after a stop on course at Badminton this year.
Daisy Berkeley also brings forward her Badminton horse Diese Du Figuier, who was pulled up after 20 penalties at the Mars Lake, but who went well at Bramham last year and was second at Blenheim Horse Trials in 2024.
Ireland’s Aoife Clark, a winner of this class in 2014 on Fenyas Elegance, will ride Full Monty De Lacense, her partner on the Irish silver medal-winning team at last year’s Europeans, although they provided the discard score after a fall. They also recently had a good run at Belsay.
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Selina Milnes and Cooley Snapchat are also former winners of the CCI4*-S here, in 2023, and head to Bramham this time after missing Badminton due to Selina breaking two ribs two days before the start of the season.
New Zealand’s Clark Johnstone has two strong rides in the experienced 2022 world team bronze medallist Menlo Park and the rising star Rocket Man – he will have an eye on selection for this year’s World Championships in Aachen.
Bramham Horse Trials entries: big line-up for CCI4*-S
The CCI4*-S, which incorporates the national under-25 championship, has a whopping 119 entries.
They are headed by Olympic and European medallists Tom McEwen and JL Dublin, who should start as favourites but won’t have it all their own way.
Kirsty Chabert brings forward her experienced five-star horse Classic VI, while Ireland’s Ian Cassells fields his European team silver medallist Millridge Atlantis.
Kitty King and Cristal Fontaine have won at this level before so are ones to watch, while another grey, Highly Suspicious, could be looking at an outside shot for a US place at the World Championships with younger Dorset-based rider Cosby Green, who withdrew him from Badminton earlier this month.
Also for the US, it is exciting to see the Kentucky CCI4*-S winners Tamie Smith and 10-year-old Lillet 3 entered here – they too will have an eye on a team spot.
Samantha Lissington will be bidding for a call-up to the New Zealand squad for the worlds as she brings forward Ricker Ridge Sooty GNZ, who was second at Luhmühlen Horse Trials last year.
Alice Casburn rides her experienced five-star campaigner Topspin in this class, with the under-25 title and the World Championships at that level (at Millstreet, in late July) in mind.
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.
