Former world champions Zara Tindall and Ros Canter head up the Bramham Horse Trials entries for next week’s event (7-11 June).
Zara has two horses in the Defender CCI4*-S. Gleadhill House Stud Ltd’s Class Affair will have his first run since finishing 15th at the Kentucky Three-Day Event and the 2006 world champion also pilots her own and Judith Luff’s Classicals Euro Star as he makes his four-star debut in the same class.
Ros, world champion in 2018 and the recent Badminton Horse Trials winner on Lordships Graffalo, will ride Deirdre Johnston and Lady Milnes Coates’ MHS Seventeen and Kate Willis and Mel Pritchard’s Dassett Cooley Dun in the CCI4*-S.
Kirsty Chabert will be one to watch in this class with three rides, including Opposition Loire, who was third in the CCI4*-L at Bramham last year. Others to keep an eye on include Sarah Bullimore with her own, her husband Brett’s and the Kew Jumping Syndicate’s Corouet and Mollie Summerland riding her own and Paula Cloke’s Flow 7.
Bramham Horse Trials entries are still being accepted but at present the CCI4*-S is the largest class with 81 entries. This is comparable to 2022 when 75 started in that section, but both the CCI4*-L and the under-25 CCI4*-L are depleted this year. The CCI4*-L has 43 entries (63 started in 2022) and the under-25 section has 11 on the current list (21 started in 2022).
The reduced entries are likely to be due at least in part to a tightening of qualification requirements for 2023, which also affected the entry numbers for Badminton Horse Trials.
Ian Stark’s tracks at Bramham last year proved a stern test, which may also have led to riders being cautious in their entries.
Former Bramham Horse Trials winner among CCI4*-L entries
Ros Canter will start as favourite in the CCI4*-L when she brings forward her own and Alex Moody’s Izilot DHI. The talented 10-year-old won the CCI4*-S here last year and has since won at the same level at Burgham, finished sixth at Boekelo CCI4*-L and recently fourth in the CCI4*-S at Chatsworth.
Other notable entries in this class include Tom McEwen with last year’s British intermediate champion and Blair CCI4*-L winner Luna Mist, owned by Martin Belsham, and the on-form Lizzie Baugh with her home-bred Chatsworth CCI4*-S winner B Exclusive.
Bubby Upton – who won the under-25 class on Cannavaro the year it was held at Bicton Horse Trials in 2021 – will hold pole position going into the age-restricted class. She rides her own and the Zebedee Syndicate’s Magic Roundabout IV.
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