Dressage leader Kitty King drops down ranks after Burghley cross-country: ‘I’m gutted for the horse’

Piggy March and Trevor Dickens’ Vanir Kamira will be the overnight leaders after the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials cross-country day.

Dressage leader Kitty King had a great round up to the Fairfax & Favor Boot Racks at fence 19ab, but her ride Vendredi Biats didn’t read the first of the blue and white oxers there properly, seeming only to sight the front rail.

The grey looked as if he was going to put down in the middle of the oxer and although he managed to stay on his feet – unlike some others at this fence – he broke the frangible device on the back rail, incurring 11 penalties.

“I’m just gutted for the horse – he was absolutely class the whole way and gave me a great ride,” said Kitty. “He’s such a careful horse and just didn’t read it. He jumped the first part and put down, then tried to take off again in the middle. He just completely misread it and it’s such a shame – he doesn’t deserve it and neither do my owners and team, but that’s the sport.

“He’s a careful horse so I was worried that might have frightened him a bit and that he might have done it because he was tired. I had to pick him up round the corner to the Cottesmore Leap and he jumped that fine, then I let him freewheel down the hill and assessed that I still had plenty of horse so I picked him up to gallop home.”

Kitty and Diana Bown, Sally Lloyd Baker, Sally Eyre and Samantha Wilson’s horse finished 15 seconds over the time and will sit in 11th or better overnight, depending on what happens with the final few combinations.

Tim Price has the second best score in the clubhouse, with Vitali, but Oliver Townend (Swallow Springs), Tom McEwen (CHF Cooliser) and Ros Canter (Pencos Crown Jewel) can all go between Piggy and Tim on the leaderboard if they have fast clear rounds in the final throes of this Burghley Horse Trials cross-country day.

Vanir Kamira – who went round one second over the time earlier – would become the 14th horse to win both Badminton Horse Trials and Burghley if she completes the double tomorrow, after her Badminton victory in 2019.

You might also be interested in:

Change on Burghley leaderboard as Tim Price, Oliver Townend and Zara Tindall take on track

Superstar mare delivers fastest cross-country round at Burghley as top-three horse retires

Seven feeds a day and bawling like a baby: Piggy March’s groom Amy Phillips on looking after Vanir Kamira at Burghley

Piggy March puts in brilliant Burghley round on 17-year-old Vanir Kamira: ‘She was really up for it’

Subscribe to Horse & Hound magazine today – and enjoy unlimited website access all year round

Keep up with all of the breaking news, behind the scenes insight and the best of the action throughout Burghley Horse Trials with no limit on how much you can read from as little as £1 per week with a Horse & Hound unlimited website subscription. Sign up now. Plus enjoy our full 20-page magazine report on Burghley, including in-depth analysis and exclusive comments from Nick Burton and Mark Phillips, in next week’s magazine (8 September).

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now