The British open championship was abandoned owing to heavy rain in 2023, so 2022 winners, New Zealand’s Tim Price and Vitali, line up to defend their crown this weekend.
There are 37 horses entered for this class; joining Tim will be Oliver Townend and Cooley Rosalent, who will be hard to beat owing to this mare’s form in 2024, which includes winning the five-star at Kentucky and a recent victory in the CCI4*-S at Burgham.
Valmy Biats and Emily King will be ones to watch too, having not finished outside the top five in all six of this gelding’s starts this year, including fourth at Badminton and fifth at Aachen.
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Zara Tindall rides her top horse Class Affair in the British open. He is among the contenders in this class who will then likely head to Burghley Horse Trials; some of these horses may not run across country at Hartpury, depending on their riders’ build-up plan for the five-star.
Jonelle Price lines up with Grappa Nera and Chilli’s Midnight Star and both are worth keeping an eye on.
The British novice championship is the largest of the three main championship classes with 52 entries, and the British intermediate championship plays host to 40 entries.
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Former web features editor, point-to-point editor and digital racing editor
Gemma is an experienced journalist, who was a member of H&H staff from 2014 to September 2025. She 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 Epsom in August 2018. Gemma’s has reported from numerous five-star events around Britain and Europe, as well as European championships.
