On the first day of dressage, top riders have given their verdict on the Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course, designed by Derek di Grazia. Competitors will walk the course several times before riding it on Saturday, but their first impressions typically give a good indication of how the course is being received. Burghley is well known to be an influential cross-country track, with only two horses having made the time last year. The track is almost four miles long – 6,420m – with an optimum time of 11min 16sec.
Riders are united in their opinion that the skinnies are massive, and that this year’s track is challenging almost from the outset.
Riders’ first impressions of the Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course
The 2018 Burghley winner Tim Price said the course is “right on the tipping point”.
“It’s big and challenging,” he said. “That’s what challenges us on a personal level, but then you walk it and think ‘do I really want it to be that tough?’. We’ve seen Burghleys before that are just big and keep asking questions all the way, but this one is quite front-heavy. In a nutshell it’s one of the toughest.”
Tim pinpointed the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit as the biggest head-scratcher, but added: “There are a lot of questions throughout – it’s typical Burghley, so you have the fatigue to deal with and bringing home a healthy horse that still has a desire to jump and run at the end.”
As Tim said, the Leaf Pit at fence 7abcde is the main talking point. Kiwi Dan Jocelyn, rider of Blackthorn Cruise, said: “I couldn’t believe the size of those arrowheads – I thought have they not finished trimming them yet! It’s a real Burghley track, tough and demanding all the way, and a stamina test.”
Richard Jones is lining up at his 12th CCI5* with Alfies Clover and predicts that the dressage “won’t be too relevant”: “The brushes off the Leaf Pit are bigger than anything I’ve seen at any five star. I am sure some will jump them, but not many the direct way.”
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Francis Whittington is one rider who is sure he’ll be taking the long route here on DHI Purple Rain. “It’s quite an imposing fence and the dimensions look crazy, with the ground, the terrain in front of it,” he said.
“The thing about Burghley is it’s an accumulative thing, so someone might have a problem later on on the course, but it will be down to an accumulation of knocks, taking it out of that bucket, so it’s about riders putting some goodness back into the bucket where you can. It’s not a course you can ride off your watch, it’s what you feel.”
Zara Tindall has had three non-completions with Class Affair here but is hoping to “get through the early part”.
“It’s a great track but I’m definitely going long at fence seven,” she said of the Leaf Pit, where she has repeatedly picked up penalties in the past. “The skinnies are enormous. Although my horse has great scope, the beginning is really busy, and there’s no easing into it. The terrain, where they put the fences and how the horse adapt to it and figure it out – that adds an extra 10%.”
Ros Canter expects her journey over the first eight of the 30 fences to determine her fortunes. This is especially the case for the less experienced of her two rides, Izilot DHI, who took a sensational early lead in the dressage phase.
“The course looks intense at the start, the narrow passageways into the main arena [fence 4ab] are the kind of thing that will unsettle Izilot,” she said. “So if I can get him out of Defender Valley [fence 5abc), the Leaf Pit and back through Defender Valley [fence 8ab], then I think he’ll settle and I’ve got every faith in his ability. I’m sat on two great horses.”
Harry Meade foresees plenty of places where Derek is trying to slow riders down: “I thought last year was brilliant and I’m surprised how much it has changed. There are quite a lot of fiddly bits – he has been clever, as some of those places will take time and eke away the clock. You need a plan and to kick on.
“Fences like the Leaf Pit and the Maltings, and the Dairy Mound, have sneaky late turns. It’s not that difficult but you need to be able to take the pace away, switch the clock off in your head and then get on with it again. You need to mean business.”
“This is what the sport is all about”
Tom Jackson, a leading contender sitting in third place after the first day of dressage with Capels Hollow Drift, believes “it’s a fair test, but that doesn’t make it easy”.
“There are some big, tricky combinations. You make a marginal error and you’ll end up with penalties so need to be on it all the way round. They’ve done a phenomenal job with the ground everywhere – which is really appreciated.”
Aaron Millar scored 33 in the dressage on Friendship VDL, but is hoping for an “influential cross-country”: “It’s definitely Burghley. At the Leaf Pit, those skinnies are fairly sizeable, but the horse has a lot of scope – it’s just trust in my riding, the same as a normal competition, but it’s massive.”
Five-star first-timer Nicole Mills says she is planning to opt for a couple of long routes: “My first feel is that up to the Trout Hatchery [fence 10] it’s throwing everything at you and then you might be able to have some breathing space after that.”
One rider who is definitely looking forward to the challenge is US rider Jennie Brannigan. She said: “I love the course; hardest event in the world and everyone knows it. This is what eventing is all about, this is the sport, and this is why as a kid I wanted to do it. A big bad Burghley.”
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
