THE three-day Burnham Market international event in England became the latest weather-related casualty when, after two days of competition, it was eventually abandoned on Saturday night.

Although many of the national classes had already run earlier in the week, the real victims were those entered in the influential CIC3* and CIC2* classes. With only the dressage phase completed, this was a significant blow to riders, many of whom have entries at Badminton in four weeks’ time. As the clock ticks on, the lack of preparatory runs is becoming a serious problem and has already caused several riders to withdraw.