Ros Canter topped the Defender Burghley Horse Trials results 2025 today, winning on Michele and Archie Saul’s Lordships Graffalo with a comfortable nine-penalty margin.
“Walter” becomes the first horse ever to win two titles at both Badminton Horse Trials and Burghley. He won Badminton in 2023 and this year and took the Burghley honours last season too.
Ros had two fences in hand by the time she went into the arena but never looked like needing them – she and Walter put in a totally assured performance. They finished just over the optimum time to add 1.2 time-faults to their dressage score.
“The overriding emotion is relief that I managed to pull it off – every time I ride Walter the pressure builds and I know one day I won’t be perfect and he probably won’t have my back at some point as he won’t be able to,” she said. “But I’m so grateful for the opportunities for myself, my team and my owners that we get to have with him. He’s the horse of a lifetime and hopefully an inspiration to many.”
Ros said that it had been helpful that she was training US rider Cassie Sanger today so she had something to distract her – often when riding here she has had two horses or a Burghley young event horse entry, but because she is pregnant, she finishes her season now and has been focusing just on Walter over the past few weeks.
“As soon as Cassie went I went into a Portaloo – that smelt lovely – and sat on the toilet for a few minutes with headphones in, drowning everything out and trying to remember who I was riding and how I wanted to ride him,” she said.
Ros added she had gone through phases with her nerves through the day.
“It’s never a prospect you look forward to, something like this,” she said. “I’m always a bit of a self doubter and hope that I can see a stride at the right time and everything else. But I’ve become quite well practised, fortunately, in a situation like this.
“Sometimes it’s easy when you’re nervous not to focus, because it’s an avoidance tactic. I set my alarm a lot to stop, think, and then have an alarm to make sure I switch off again. I have an alarm to make sure I get changed at the right time and things like that. I worry about missing things then I never switch off and that’s a dangerous place to be too.”
Ros said her day had included a lot of walking, lunch with her husband Chris and daughter Ziggy – “I didn’t manage to eat much” – and reading her book and somehow she had “whittled the day away”.
After his triumph in the Burghley Horse Trials 2025 results, Lordships Graffalo’s name is being thrown around in conversations about the greatest event horses of all time.
“I hope he goes down as a legend of our sport, a legend of all time, not only for his performances but for his character as well,” Ros said. “He’s an unbelievable horse to have at home and he thrives on these occasions. I could have dropped the rein, waved at the crowd for 15 minutes and I don’t think many horses would do that.”
“I have had nothing but support”
Ros said that the goodwill since she announced her pregnancy has been “amazing”.
“It’s a big deal announcing a pregnancy when you know you might be coming to an event like this. It was a necessity in my case because I wasn’t going to the Europeans,” she said. “I can’t believe I haven’t had a single person saying ‘What are you doing?’ – I’ve had a few people saying, ‘Are you sure?’ and ‘Be careful’ – but on the whole I have had nothing but support and the sense people just wanted to see Walter again.”
Ros said that she felt “bodily self conscious” at the start of the week before she had “performed and performed well”.
“I know I’m bigger than I was, but the moment I’d done my dressage test and I was up there, and I felt I rode well, I pretty much had no doubt after that that I’d be running cross-country,” she said.
“I’ve actually felt better and better to be quite honest – I think the more I’ve done, the more active I’ve been [the better]. I’ve got myself a bit more sorted, last week I felt pretty full and bloated and uncomfortable. I’ve changed a few things this week. I think the more I think of myself as an athlete, the better I feel.”
Ros confirmed she plans to be back eventing next season after having her second child.
“You never know with childbirth, it can throw all sorts of spanners in the works, but the plan is to be at Badminton next year,” she said.
Ros will continue to train at home now and said she is looking forward to having more time to help her team and watch them at competitions.
“They give me so much time – it’ll be lovely to be able to teach them, to go and watch them in competitions. They get abandoned when they go to places because I’m so busy so I’m looking forward to that too,” she said.
Austin O’Connor and Colorado Blue finished second in the Burghley Horse Trials 2025 results, with Harry Meade and Cavalier Crystal third for the third year in a row. Harry was also fourth on Annaghmore Valoner, in a further echo of last year’s result.
Alice Casburn was fifth on Topspin, their fourth consecutive top-10 finish here, with Tim Price and Vitali sixth. The New Zealand pair dropped down three placings today with fences 5a and eight down.
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