Captain Mark Phillips explains why the riders may not get wet through the Anniversary Splash, the ‘optical illusion’ of the terrain and a new ‘flyover’ that will all play a part on the cross country at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials this year
“Because we’ve got the Lake, the footing is perfect because we’ve been able to aerate and irrigate” says Captain Mark Phillips, cross country course designer for Burghley, adding with a laugh “The Lake doesn’t look quite so healthy! The water levels have gone down as we’ve been using a lot of water, so much so that Anniversary Splash could well run dry”
Burghley will certainly not be ‘softer’ this year but there will be lots of alternatives for the less experienced and the new flyover has provided ‘massive flexibility’ for the course design this year. The first part of the course has been reversed with the Arena at Fence 4, the Leaf Pit at Fence 6, the Trout Hatchery at 12 plus the Joules and Rolex fences before going over the new flyover
“I think that the time will be as difficult, if not more difficult, as it has ever been at Burghley”
Captain Mark Phillips
