Pippa Funnell’s 2023 Burghley week – 20 years after her Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing

The 2023 Defender Burghley Horse Trials marked 20 years since Pippa Funnell narrowly beat Zara Tindall (then Phillips) to the Burghley title, and in doing so became the first rider to secure the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing.

We thought we would mark the occasion by taking a look back at Pippa’s successful week at the five-star, where she finished sixth with her long-term five-star partner Majas Hope, a 16-year-old gelding owned by Marek Sebestak.

Pippa Funnell’s 2023 Burghley captured in pictures

Pippa’s week got off to a good start when she received the “best dressed female” prize at the first horse inspection. The sartorial judges were clearly impressed by Pippa’s bargain blouse – which she “picked up in a sale in a shop next to Sainsbury’s”. We thought the tassels on her Fairfax & Favor boots that matched the blue in her top were a nice touch. ‘Hope’ looked fabulous and was passed by the ground jury. 

As they were drawn 44th to go, Pippa and Hope could enjoy a quiet day on Thursday, before tacking their dressage test on Friday. Although how one keeps a fit five-star horse “quiet”, we aren’t quite sure…

Pippa worked her magic once again and Hope produced a lovely test to score 29.8, breaking the elusive 30 barrier, which put them into eighth after the dressage. Their highlights included two nines from judge at E, Nick Burton, for the second halt and the extended canter. Their solid final halt at the end of the test secured them eights across the board.

After her test, Pippa looked very pleased and waved to the crowd.

“I am absolutely delighted with him,” said Pippa. “He always scratches my head, and he makes me use every bit of my experience. I’m constantly trying to come up with new ideas to try and find what works best for him.”

Pippa had to deal with an agonisingly long wait on Saturday before she flew out of the start box at 2.05pm to tackle the 29-fence track. Hope is one of the most seasoned horses at top level, tallying a 10th and 16th at Badminton and a 16th and 13th at Burghley in previous years, as well as fifth in the one-off-five-star at Bicton. The course was beautifully presented, with the carved hare at fence 14a – Joules at the Maltings – being just one example, which proved no problem for this experienced partnership.

The hare was followed by two massive open corners as fences 14b and 14c at Joules at the Maltings, but Hope made light work of both the course and its terrain, while Pippa’s focus never faltered.

The final element of the three-part combination at fence 20, Defender at the Dairy Mound, caught out a few riders, but not Pippa, who was determined to stay on her line as Hope jumps clear.

Burghley is home to a number of iconic backdrops and this is one of them, The Lion Bridge. Pippa and Hope gallop through the water underneath it while en-route to the finish. They have just two fences left to jump…

Hope and Pippa flying towards the finish, clearing the penultimate fence; Horatio’s Garden. They completed Derek Di Grazia’s track clear with just 8.8 time-faults to maintain their eighth place overnight. 

“I was probably hoping to be a bit quicker, but I had a super round with no scary moments,” explained Pippa. “I often lose my time in the first 90 seconds in order to get to the end of the course and ultimately he came home really well.”

Having been passed fit to continue at the final horse inspection on Sunday morning, Pippa and Hope were accepted into the final showjumping phase.

The course caused its fair share of problems, with only a handful of clear rounds – Hope lowered just one rail to add four faults to their final score.

Their 42.4 finishing score saw them rise two places on the leaderboard to claim sixth place – and take home a not to be sniffed at £18,000. Another top-10 finish at five-star for the Rolex Grand Slam winner – Pippa was understandably delighted.

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