‘Her heart and her mind separates her from normal horses’: H&H talks to newly crowned champion and top performers at Burghley Horse Trials

Horse & Hound catches up with newly crowned Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials champion Piggy March, as well as second placed Tom Jackson, New Zealand’s Tim Price, who finished third, and hears from several other success stories of the 2022 five-star *please be patient for the video below to load*

A three-year wait for the return of the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials was rewarded with a vintage result as a true Burghley mare secured her place on Winners’ Avenue.

Piggy March and Vanir Kamira have finished second twice at the Lincolnshire five-star, along with a fifth-place finish, on their previous three runs here. Bridesmaids no more, as the pair enjoyed a result “that dreams are made of” to lift the Burghley trophy.

“I owe her so very much and it’s her heart and her mind that has separated her from normal horses that I’ve had,” Piggy told H&H in the video above.

“She wants to do it for me, and I have nothing but pure respect for her. I’m so proud of everything that she’s done.”

Trevor Dickens’ 17-year-old mare joins two elite clubs with her Burghley Horse Trials victory – the 14-strong band of horses who have won both Badminton and Burghley, and the even more exclusive society of Burghley winning mares. That second club now counts three members in its ranks, with Vanir Kamira joining Headley Britannia (2007) and Maid Marion (1973).

British youth medal-winner Tom Jackson franked his place among the senior ranks at this level with a stunning Burghley debut, finishing second on the 11-year-old Capels Hollow Drift.

“I was thinking in the back of my mind ‘top five’, but to be second – especially to Piggy – almost feels like winning anyway,” said Tom, 29.

The Prices filled the next to spots for New Zealand. Former winner Tim eyeing a big future for his third-placed ride Vitali, while the 19-year-old five-star great Classic Moet and Jonelle claimed fourth and the Avebury Trophy for the best cross-country round.

“He’s just so good at a lot of things, so he’s really worth the investment and time and energy,” said Tim, reflecting on how, despite the result on paper of three down, this horse’s showjumping is improving and he has a bright future ahead.

While Kitty King finished feeling somewhat frustrated that Vendredi Biats did not get the “result he deserved” – breaking a frangible pin on the cross-country and rolling a pole with the showjumping in two otherwise stunning rounds – sixth at Burghley is not to be sniffed at.

And there were fairytales in the top 10 in a way that only sport can deliver. Alice Casburn, the youngest rider in this years field at 20 – born just one year before Classic Moet – shone with the second generation homebred Topspin to take fifth with a double jumping clear.

Tom Crisp, whose place at Burghley hovered under a question mark of injury, piloted the gutsy homebred mare Liberty And Glory to ninth on the mare’s first long-format and first five-star run since 2019.

“Two weeks ago I didn’t think I was going to be here after a nasty fall at home, but this place is magical and it brought the best out of me and the horse today,” he said.

“It was an emotional rollercoaster in the weeks coming into this event, but somehow it brought the best out in us.”

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