Captain Mark Phillips has been appointed as course designer at Burghley International Horse Trials from 2005-2007.
Captain Phillips, who won the event in 1973 riding Maid Marion, first designed the course at the world-renowned horse trials in 1989. He continued as Burghley course designer until 1996, taking a break in 1997 to return again in 1998.
Following recommendations by British Eventing, the Burghley Horse Trials Committee now has its course designers work on a rotation basis. As a result, Mark Phillips is set to return to the course in 2005 bursting with fresh and exciting ideas. He replaces Wolfgang Feld, who superseded Phillips in 2001.
“Burghley is one of the greatest events in the world and I am very pleased to be going back there. The track will be different. Wolfgang’s track has worked well, but I’m delighted to be back and it’s definitely time for a change,” Mark Phillips told H&H.
Captain Phillips has a busy summer ahead of him this year, training the American eventing team. And work has already begun on the course for the Georgia International Horse Trials, a major new four-star three-day event to be held in the autumn of 2005, which Phillips is designing.
Andrew Tulloch, director of Burghley Horse Trials is delighted to be welcoming back Captain Phillips.
“His fresh style of fence design will be both interesting for the public and thought-provoking for the riders. Over the years that Mark was designing at Burghley the stature of the event rose significantly,” he told HHO.
“When we changed course designer in the last rotation, the committee publicly said that they hoped that, in future years, they would be able to resume their long, happy and successful association with Mark Phillips and I am delighted that we are doing just that.”
