The 2019 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials press conference took place today.

RUPERT Bell caught up with Badminton cross-country course designer Eric Winter who discussed some of what riders can expect from the 2019 course.

The course is going in the opposite direction to 12 months ago, which automatically makes it more difficult, Winter explained. “This direction is much harder work on the horses. In the other direction the ground is quite flat on the way out so it allows horses to settle into a really nice rhytem to start with. Whereas this direction, it shifts them off their rhythm early. Just that on it own impacts the level of the course and almost pushes it up a little bit.”

Winter does not want Badminton to turn into a dressage competition. “I did a course walk with Sam Watson yesterday and he came up with a really interesting stat that since I’ve been designing in the last two years, nobody has ever finished on their dressage score and I was quite proud of that,” Winter said.

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE