The other British riders making their Badminton debuts are Helen Bates (Carpe Diem), Richard Coney (Poetry In Motion II), Heidi Coy (Halenza), Will Rawlin (Ballycoog Breaker Boy), Holly Richardson (Bally Louis), Max Warburton (Monbeg Exclusive) and India Wishart (Diamond Sundance).
Canada’s Jessica Phoenix is another who comes to a first Badminton off the back of a strong Burghley; she and Wabbit finished 11th.
Badminton final scores
The USA has the second biggest group of Badminton Horse Trials first-timers, with Cosby Green (Copper Beach) – who is based at Chedington Equestrian in Dorset and trained by Tim Price and Jonelle Price – and Northamptonshire-based Grace Taylor (Game Changer) joined by Alexandra (“Allie”) Knowles (Morswood) and Meghan O’Donoghue (Palm Crescent), who will fly over from the USA. Morswood has a British connection as he started his career in Piggy March’s yard, ridden by Piggy and Susie Berry.
France fields two debutants in Florian Ganneval (Blue Bird De Beaufour) and Surrey-based Gaspard Maksud (Kan-Do 2), as does Ireland with Daragh Byrne (Kilcannon Ramiro) and Lucy Latta (RCA Patron Saint).
Seppe Vilain will line up for his first Badminton for Belgium on Kawa De La Cour Z and Lina Forsberg represents Sweden on Kaizen.
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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.
