Bear with us โ thereโs a lot to dissect from todayโs action. From penalties to perfection: cross-country day delivered at Defender Burghley Horse Trials, as the drama continued even after the final whistle, with Harry Meade Eventing and Anaghmore Valona deemed to have left the start box early. That ruling means Harry has been awarded 3.2 penalties instead of 0.4, and he switches places with Tim Price and Vitali, who now rise into third place.โฃ
โฃWhilst there was some deliberation over the results, there was absolutely no question that Ros Canter Eventing delivered the round of the day. She was the only combination to finish inside the time and now holds the best chance of defending her title. Ros, who is expecting her second child, took extra precautions in her preparation, aware that all eyes would be on her. She explained that she wanted to ensure she felt at her best and entirely capable of tackling Derek di Graziaโs demanding course. Roars of appreciation from spectators followed her around the 6km track, and the cheers reached their peak as she crossed the finishing line with a flawless completion.โฃ
โฃCourse designer Derek di Grazia admitted he thought the time would be difficult, but was nevertheless surprised by some of the issues riders faced. โYou couldnโt let your guard down and had to ride it to the finish,โ he reflected, adding that the day had given him plenty to consider for next yearโs design.โฃ
โฃWith three completions today, Harry Meade reflected on the challenge: โ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ต๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข, ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ-๐ง๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฌโ๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ-๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ณ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐บ๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด.โโฃ
โฃVintage Colorado Blue produced another of his trademark, effortless rounds โ the kind weโve come to admire time and again. The big grey stormed around the track to huge adoration and fanfare, finishing second with Austin O’Connor Eventing, who also guided Sixmilewater to an educational completion earlier in the day.โฃ
โฃCassie Sanger (USA) delivered a classy clear round on board Redfield Fyre, with just 9.2 time penalties on her Defender Burghley debut. The youngest rider in this yearโs field, she soared up the leaderboard from 40th to an impressive 13th place.โฃ
โฃLaura Collett Eventing also marked her return to Burghley for the first time since 2011, when she partnered Noble Bestman. This time she piloted the talented 12-year-old mare Bling with style and confidence on their Burghley debut, and the duo now sit comfortably within the top ten heading into the final day.โฃ
โฃIt might be their very first season together, but Samantha Lissington (NZL) continues to impress. She piloted Billy Alberto โ contesting his first-ever CCI5* โ masterfully around the course. Rising from 45th to 12th, the pair delivered one of the most eye-catching rounds of the day. Sam continues to amaze us; after all, who picks Burghley as their horseโs five-star debut? She knew her horse inside out, trusted his ability, and was rewarded with a superb performance.โฃ
โฃAlice Casburn and Topspin once again showed their mettle, making a tough five-star track look deceptively easy and adding just 4.4 time penalties. It was also a fantastic showing for Gaspard Maksud (FRA) and Zaragoza, and Holly Richardson and Ballyneety Silver Service, both of whom climbed into the top ten after strong performances.โฃ
โฃThe crowds were bustling, the weather glorious, and spectators were treated to a day of world-class sport, watching some of the best combinations in the world take on the unique challenge of Defender Burghley.โฃ
