Warren Lamperd's 17 year old Silvia has completed Burghley twice and is set to return - after all she is their ticket cover girl!
“You don’t have to be particularly knowledgeable about horses to enjoy the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials” says Event Director Elizabeth Inman and indeed there is plenty more to enjoy but with 100 of the world’s top eventing combinations entered at this year’s big event in Stamford, England, there is plenty of horsepower to be knowledgeable about
Despite it being a Championship year with the FEI World Equestrian Games to be held in Tryon, USA soon after, riders from 10 nations put in entries for Burghley, five past winners are set to return and 20 first-timers hope to be battling it out for a first prize of £95,000 and a total prize pot of over £300,000
Of course, we never know what the final list of approximately 85 combinations will look like until the last moment, especially with WEG selections also playing a part as to which horses the top riders will eventually compete. But there are certainly some top stars including last year’s winner Oliver Townend with three horses entered and the 2016 winner Chris Burton, this time on Cooley Lands. Paul Tapner, Bill Levett, Lissa Green and Warren Lamperd (whose gorgeous grey mare Silvia graces the Burghley tickets this year) are also competing for Australia. You can view the current list of entries here
We’ll take a look at the final entries closer to the date but for now let’s hear what else is lined up at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials from 30th August – 2nd September as Elizabeth Inman tells Sam Lloyd what we can expect to see, hear, do and buy ……….