Which of these would you like to jump? Take a walk around the 2018 Burghley cross-country course

This year’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (29 August-2 September) cross-country course, designed by Captain Mark Phillips and built by Philip Herbert and his team, looks like it will be as challenging as ever for competitors.

We take a look at what the course has in store for the horses and riders who will tackle it on Saturday 1 September.

Fence 1: Olympic Horse Shoe

Fence 2: Flower Bed

Fence 3: Picnic Table

Fence 4a, b, c: Land Rover 70th Anniversary

Fence 5a, b, c: Discovery Valley — alternative route is to jump the first log to the ditch and then the narrow log on the left

Fence 6: Rolex Grand Slam Rails

Fence 7a, b, c and 8: Leaf Pit

Straight c and fence 8 directly ahead, with alternative c to the right and alternative fence 8 coming back towards the camera far left

Alternative fences 7a and b

Fence 9a, b, c, d: Discovery Valley

Alternative fence 9b and c is to jump the ditch and then the far left oxer. The direct route is to jump just the right-hand oxer

Fence 10: Gurkha Kukri

Fence 11a, b, c and 12a, b: Land Rover Trout Hatchery

Direct triple brush on the left, alternative on the right

Alternative log into the water with longer route brush out on the left

Fence 13: Captain’s Log:

Fence 14a, b, c, d: Joules at the Maltings direct route

Alternative route — these two houses, followed by an oxer and then parallel rails

Fence 15a, b, c, d: Rolex Combination

Alternative route — oxer followed by the ditch, rail and then corner

Fence 16: Pardubice

Fence 17a, b: Land Rover at the Lake

Fence 18: Winners’ Avenue

Fence 19: Cottesmore Leap

Fence 20a, b: Keeper’s Brushes

Alternative route

Fence 21a, b, c and 22: Clarence Court direct route

Alternative route

Fence 23: Capability’s Cutting

Fence 24: Collyweston Slate Mine

Fences 25 and 26: Anniversary Splash

Fence 27: Lion Bridge

Fence 28: Parasols

Fence 29: Lambert’s Sofa

Fence 30: Land Rover Finale

Don’t miss H&H’s Burghley preview, including a full form guide and a scorecard to fill in for every rider, on sale now (issue dated Thursday 23 August), and you can read the full report in next week’s magazine (Thursday 6 September).

Gemma Redrup

H&H features, racing and point-to-point editor

Gemma is an experienced journalist, having been part of the H&H team since 2014, who is passionate about all equestrian sports, including racing and point-to-pointing. She has enjoyed riding out for top trainers Nicky Henderson and Charlie Appleby and took part in a charity Flat race at in August 2018. Gemma’s reporting talents have taken her to numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.