The first day of the Mars Badminton Horse Trials dressage sparkles brightly ahead of us on Thursday 8 May and we can’t wait to get started with this year’s British spring classic.
Read on to find out what to look out for as the competition gets underway…
1.The four-time five-star winner. The action starts thick and fast tomorrow morning and third into the arena is Ballaghmor Class, ridden by Oliver Townend. He’s by far the most experience horse in the field, with four wins at five-star to his name, six other top-five placings at the level and an Olympic team gold medal. “Thomas” is 18 now, but dispelled any retirement rumours after he missed the spring season last year by winning Maryland 5 Star in the autumn. Nonetheless, we won’t be seeing this wonderful grey too many more times, so let’s savour it while we can.
3. Last year’s Thursday leaders.Bubby Upton and Cola took top spot after the first day last year and held onto second at the end of the Badminton Horse Trials dressage. Since then, Bubby – who is still only 26 – has gained more experience and she is also further on in her recovery from a serious spinal injury that occurred in 2023. Cola is at his seventh five-star, with five of the previous six having yielded top-15 placings.
4. The world champion’s Badminton debut. It’s been long-awaited but Yasmin Ingham, Britain’s 2022 individual world gold medallist, finally comes to her first Badminton this week. Piloting Rehy DJ, who she’s partnered since young rider days, she will be under slightly less pressure than if she was riding her team horse Banzai Du Loir, but don’t discount “Piglet”, who has twice been third at Luhmühlen Horse Trials five-star.
5. The judging. It’s always fascinating to see how the scores shake down. Are the ground jury marking high or low? Are they consistently putting the same pairs up or are they at odds with each other? Are there any movements where their different viewpoints are resulting in quite varying marks? This year, the people in the hot seats are France’s ground jury president Xavier Le Sauce, Britain’s Nick Burton and the USA’s Robert Stevenson.
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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.
