William Fox-Pitt will return to defend his title
As expected, there are more riders wanting to compete at the 2016 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials than can be accommodated so 85 horses have been currently accepted on today’s published entry list and the rest are on a Waiting List.
Due to double entries and riders who have entered several horses, there are more than 85 horses on the list, but it will eventually produce a maximum of 85 runners as the event waits until they have a withdrawal from the accepted list of entries then take the next horse on the Waiting List
According to the current entry list however, both William Fox-Pitt (Parklane Hawk) and Andrew Nicholson (Nereo and multiple Burghley winner Avebury) are heading to this year’s event while the German entiries are headed by Olympic Champion Michael Jung with La Biosthetique Sam, Ingrid Klimke, Andreas Dibowski, Bettina Hoy and Andreas Ostholt. Michael Jung also plans to take one horse to Rolex Kentucky, which after his Burghley win in 2015 gives him a shot at the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing, if he wins in Kentucky.
For New Zealand has Mark Todd has two rides (NZB Campino and Leonidas), Blyth Tait returns after a 13 year absence, previous winner Jonathan Paget brings Clifton Promise and Clifton Lush, husband and wife Tim and Jonelle Price have three rides between them (Classic Moet, Bango and Ringwood Sky Boy) while Clarke Johnstone (Balmoral Sensation) and Lucy Jackson (Bosun) also have berths.
British entries include former world champion Zara Tindall with her London Olympic and World Equestrian Games ride High Kingdom, previous winners Pippa Funnell and Oliver Townend, regular team members Tina Cook and Nicola Wilson and several riders with a real chance of earning a ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games such as Gemma Tattersall, Izzy Taylor and Laura Collett.
2016 also sees a strong American contingent headed by multiple medallist Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin with a choice of four rides, Buck Davidson and Lynn Symansky. As always the Irish will be out in force, with another husband and wife combination in Michael and Patricia Ryan, Aoife Clark, Joe Murphy and Camilla Spiers.
The Australians have two previous Mitsubishi Motors Trophy winners in Paul Tapner and Sam Griffiths, together with Christopher Burton (Nobilis 18 and Haruzac) and Bill Levett (Improvise).
25 years after her mother Mary won the first Mitsubishi Motors Trophy, Emily King hopes to make her debut at Badminton with Brookleigh.
The current list of accepted entries and thecurrent waiting list can be seen here
