After a few years of absence, the eventing competition in Burghley is back on the calendar. And how! The five-star competition, part of the Rolex Grand Slam eventing, this year has the largest prize pool ever in the event’s sixty-year history. No less than 380,000 euros can be divided in the 2022 edition of Burghley Horse Trails. Home rider Kitty King has already taken the first steps towards this huge amount. She is at the top of the standings after two days of dressage.
She does this with her loyal partner Friday Biats (by Winningmood), who finished seventh in the Badminton cross this year. A very nice dressage test gave her the winning score of more than 78%. This resulted in 21.2 penalty points. A nice boost for Kitty. She missed the World Cup selections earlier this year and was determined to show what she’s worth in Burghley.
King does not have much margin over its competition. Tim Price follows with Vitali (by Contender) in second place with 21.2 penalty points. In third place we see a striking combination. The smallest horse in the field runs to the third score of the day. Sarah Bullimore sends Corouet (by Balou du Rouet) to a total of 22.5 penalty points in this tough match.
Rolex Grand Slam
There are only seven competitions at this level around the world. Two matches are in England (Burghley and Badminton), one in Germany (Luhmühlen), one in France (Pau), two in America (Maryland and Kentucky) and finally one in Australia (Adelaide). Burghley Horse Trials is known among the riders as the most challenging competition, it is very technically built in a very varied terrain. On Sunday we will know who has won the first Rolex Grand Slam of the season.
