Irish rider Sam Watson described Burghley as “the monster in this sport” today (4 September), as riders reacted to the new-look Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course, which will be tackled on Saturday.
Designer Derek di Grazia has reversed the route around the track this year. The last time the course was ridden this way was in 2017 and it means a particularly intense early climb from the Boodles water fences at six and seven up to the Irish Horse Board Cottesmore Leap at 11.
“It’s massive and a serious track from the beginning to the end,” said Sam’s compatriot Austin, who has two rides here this week and is among the favourites to win with 2023 Maryland 5 Star winner Colorado Blue.
“It’s a long pull up to the Cottesmore Leap and you’ve got to be sensible and conserve as much energy as you possibly can. Then you run to the Maltings area and there’s a lot of big jumping there, so you’ve got to keep petrol in the tank.”
Irish 2018 world team silver medallist Sam Watson, co-founder of equestrian data analytics company EquiRatings, predicted that less than half the field will jump clear and there will be one inside the time.
“It’s technical and difficult in places like you might get on a very tough championship course,” he said. “Burghley is always the monster in this sport because of the terrain and then there are road crossings at Capability’s Cutting, the Leaf Pit is slow, and he’s made us really slow at the Trout Hatchery this year.
“The best we’ve seen in the sport over the past decade are here and I think it’s probably going to be their biggest test, aside from a wet Badminton or something like that.”
“Like riding at a fresh venue”
“A lot of big jumping” – Joules at the Maltings, fences 17 and 18. Credit: Pippa Roome
Tom Jackson, who will pilot Hawk Eye round, said: “I think it’s very different and interesting going the other way around. I think the time is going to be really influential. I just can’t see anywhere, really, where we can get up on it or to it.”
Austin and Harry Meade are among those who have ridden the track this way round, although Harry pointed out that the addition of the “flyover” – where the track in one direction goes across a bridge over the other lane – since the last running this way round means the layout is actually slightly different.
“There’s lots to do and it’s really interesting going this way around. It’s not just a fresh set of questions, it’s almost like riding at a fresh venue,” said Harry, who has three rides this week.
Alex Bragg, who sits second after the first day of dressage on Ardeo Premier, added: “It’s just so different from last year. You can’t believe it’s the same designer, but maybe that’s a sign of a good designer – the fact that you never know quite what you’re preparing for and so you have to prepare for everything.”
Experienced Irish rider Joseph Murphy commented: “Nobody really knows how this course is going to ride this weekend. The first four minutes is a lot of uphill, and then if horses catch their breath, you can then gallop home – but how far you’re going to be behind the clock is anybody’s guess at the moment, so it’s going to be a tactical ride.
“Burghley is a bigger course than you ever see anywhere else and that means you have to ride forward and be brave and use your horse’s scope and stride. The distance are built beautifully for that.
“I don’t think it’s easy, but I have a good feeling about how it’s designed and laid out. I like it, so fingers crossed.”
Burghley Horse Trials cross-country reactions: a blind corner
Sam said the corner at Defender Dairy Mound (fence 9b) is “the blindest corner I’ve ever seen in the sport”.
“I think that’s a really tricky fence and I think anyone can be vulnerable there,” said Sam.
Sam also picked out the Trout Hatchery (fence 21abcd and 22) as a tough complex, because of the turning back.
He said: “It feels like a long route and a lot of the reason we don’t take long routes is because while the fences are easier, the twisting and turning is really hard, particularly at that late stage of the course. That’s often why we will actually go the straight route – the long route looks easier to jump, but it’s harder to ride. So here at the Trout Hatchery, we’ve got the difficulty to ride of a long route [in terms of turn backs], with the difficult fences of a straight route.”
The Trout Hatchery involves tiring turnbacks on the direct route.
Tom Jackson added that the accuracy questions have a “different style” to last year.
“Last year was really big, really bold, and everything was near enough straight in front of you, whereas this year you’ve got a few of those blind corners, where you can’t really see until you’re a stride away,” he said. “So it’s a different feel to the course, as well as obviously being the other way around.”
To stay up-to-date with all the breaking news throughout Burghley and other major shows this year, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website, from £1 a week. Horse & Hound’s 20-page magazine report on Burghley is published in 11 September issue, including full analysis and exclusive comment from six-time Burghley winner William Fox-Pitt.
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