Arctic Soul, who was third at Badminton in 2016 and has four other top-20 finishes at the event, is among the 33 horses on the Badminton Horse Trials wait list for this year’s event, as the event entries are revealed today. The competition, presented by Mars Equestrian, will run 4-8 May 2022.
Gemma Tattersall’s ride, who belongs to The Soul Syndicate, is 12th on the waiting list so is almost certain to make the final cut to start at the event, which will please the 19-year-old ex-racehorse’s many fans.
The waiting list is headed by Belgium’s Constantin van Rijckevorsel’s Beat It, with Britain’s James Sommerville second on the list with Talent and Australia’s Bill Levett third with Lates Quin.
Others who will have a nervous wait to see if they make the final start list include Ireland’s Sam Watson with Ballybolger Talisman, who went very well across country at last year’s European Eventing Championships (23rd on the list), Nicky Hill and MGH Bingo Boy, who impressed with 18th place on their Badminton debut in 2019 (seventh on the list, so almost certain to have the chance to start), and Simon Grieve with Mr Fahrenheit, a son of the popular tiny five-star mare Little Tiger (26th on the list).
How the Badminton Horse Trials wait list works
The Badminton Horse Trials entries ballot is done according to horses’ FEI points won at the four- and five-star level over the past two years. For this year only, because of interrupted competition patterns due to Covid-19, Badminton has also taken points won at five-star for an extra year into account for the ballot, so five-star points won in 2019 have been counted, as well as four- and five-star points from 2020, 2021 and 2022 (up until the close of entries on 17 March).
The eventual starting field will be no more than 85, but 91 horses have been accepted to account for those which are double entered (where a rider has more than two horses on the list, but will have to choose their two runners by Wednesday, 4 May at the latest).
How many horses will be accepted from the wait list?
The horses on the wait list, who are listed in order of FEI points, will replace those who withdraw up until 2pm on the Sunday before the event (1 May).
Since the waiting list system was brought in in 2008, the number of horses accepted from the waiting list has varied between 14 and 43.
Fifteen horses were accepted from the wait list last time the event ran, in 2019. On that occasion three horses were withdrawn from the waiting list and six were still on the list when it closed so were unable to start the event.
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