Events cancelled but Badminton confident
Despite heavy rainfall in the past fortnight, the organisers of the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials are confident that the event will go ahead next weekend (8-11 May).
“We would be able to run the event this afternoon if we needed to,” event director Hugh Thomas told H&H. “The going would be good to soft, not fast, but the forecast is better from now on.”
The British Eventing calendar has been hit by the recent wet weather — Withington Manor (26-27 April) , Mattingley (2-3 May) and West Buckland (3-4 May) have all be forced to cancel. Solihull has also abandoned Saturday’s competition (3 May) and will decide whether Sunday’s classes can run at 5pm tomorrow.
Badminton was forced to cancel in 2012 due to persistent heavy rainfall, but efforts have been made since to improve drainage.
“I am very surprised at the number of events that have cancelled,” Hugh told H&H. “We have had a lot of rain, but we have fantastic drainage.
Badminton final scores
“It is all systems go.”
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Sophia Heath joined Horse & Hound in July 2013 having previously worked for the Daily Telegraph's Olympics website, CNN International and Omnisport. A Durham graduate with a Masters in journalism from City University, Sophia has evented, showjumped and hunted. Sophia left Horse & Hound in early 2015 to join an international boating website.