THE 2026 Defender Burghley Horse Trials will take place from September 3rd to 6th in the undulating Lincolnshire countryside, where a quality field is set to contest the CCI5* competition. The Dubarry Burghley Young Event Horse Final, a masterclass hosted by Carl Hester, the extensive shopping village and the Shetland Grand National are among the other attractions at the event and tickets are available to purchase at Burghley-horse.co.uk.

Seven nations are represented on the start list of 56 combinations, which includes 19 Olympians and 10 former five-star winners. Two riders who have previously won at Burghley, Tim Price and Caroline Powell, are set to return this year, and the latter is surely among the favourites with High Time having finished seventh last year. Price is double-handed as the programme stands, although with Falco having run at the recent World championships, it is likely the New Zealander will come forward only with Global Quest.

Harry Meade is always one to watch at this level and, with three horses among the entries, he looks likely to feature at the business end of the leaderboard. Meade is set to be pathfinder with Superstition before he goes with Et Hop Du Matz midway through the running order, but it is his final ride Cavalier Crystal that could prove the most promising. The 16-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare finished third in the last two editions of the event and is one of only a handful of horses to have ever completed the five-star challenge on her first-phase score. David Doel’s Galileo Nieuwoed has also achieved this feat and should be aiming to repeat it this time round.

Two of the youngest horses in the field are also two of the most exciting, as Tom Jackson’s United 36 and Sarah Bullimore’s Corimiro have already achieved top-10 placings at Badminton, despite being only 10 years old. There is only one other 10-year-old in the field and that is Goliath Du Loir, ride of former World champion Yasmin Ingham, while the oldest entrant is a firm fan favourite. Known as the ‘Chocolate Legend’, Nadja Minder’s 19-year-old Toblerone jumped clear cross-country at Badminton this spring, as well as at last year’s Europeans, and will hopefully put in another solid performance at Burghley.

America is well represented in the field, not least by Will Coleman and the Deirdre Bowler-bred Irish Sport Horse Very Dignified, who was produced to CCI4*-L level here by Robbie Kearns. Having felt the frustration of finishing fourth individually at Aachen, Coleman will be aiming for his share of the prize pot, while his compatriot Caroline Pamukcu will also be looking to put Aachen demons to bed. She is due to be second out with another Irish-bred, HSH Tolan King, but she has also re-routed her Kentucky CCI5* runner-up HSH Blake to Burghley after an early fall in Aachen.

Irish entries

Lucy Latta and RCA Patron Saint will be looking to improve on last year’s performance at Burghley, when an unfortunate stumble out of the water resulted in a run-out late on course. All the indications are that they are well-placed for a strong result, especially having recorded a personal best dressage score in the CCI4*-S at Millstreet recently.

Joseph Murphy is set to run Calmaro, while Susie Berry is double-handed with Clever Trick and John The Bull, who was selected as a reserve for the Irish team at Aachen. Padraig McCarthy and Sam Watson are each set to bring the horses with whom they finished inside the top 20 at Badminton this year, where Lady Ophelia and Ballyneety Rocketman respectively were each just two seconds over the optimum time, while last year’s runner-up Austin O’Connor will run his younger horse Sixmilewater. O’Connor will be busy at Burghley, as he has qualified Party Politics for the four-year-old section of the Burghley

Other Irish-based combinations eligible to travel for this class include Jessica Murphy with Kilcorig Gotcha Talkin and Gillian Beale King with Drumnaconnell Leroy, while Cathal Daniels and Luca Bortolamei have rides here and in the five-year-old section. Patrick Whelan has qualified the five-year-old Dolmen Dulcet Tone, as have Micheal Ryan, Clare Abbott and Ciaran Moran qualified Berta, Rossini MT and Ameline Z respectively.

Action at Burghley begins on Wednesday, September 2nd, with the CCI5* trot-up, while the young event horse classes get underway on Friday, September 4th.