Three more Badminton withdrawals as deadline passes for horses to be accepted from wait list

There have been three more Badminton Horse Trials withdrawals, for the event presented by Mars Equestrian, and the cut-off has been reached for accepting horses from the waiting list.

Harry Meade has withdrawn Charlotte Opperman’s Cavalier Crystal, who would have been the pathfinder, saying she has had a “minor setback”. Kirsty Chabert will now be first into the dressage arena and out on course with her father John Johnston and Carole Somers’ Classic IV. Harry will still start on Charlotte’s Away Cruising.

Izzy Taylor has withdrawn Sara and Tom Strong’s Artful Trinity, who was only accepted from the waiting list on Friday, and Georgie Spence has pulled out Halltown Harley, owned by Suzanne Doggett, Georgie’s mother Joanna and fiancé Toby Goss.

Georgie reported Halltown Harley has picked up an injury after his final prep run.

“I am absolutely heartbroken for his incredible and loyal owner Suzanne, for myself, for Harley and for all my team of staff, sponsors and supporters,“ said Georgie.

“It’s been a tough winter with only a select few people knowing that we nearly lost him due to a rare illness. Having nursed him through and adopted a new fitness plan to beat the odds and bring him back to five-star fitness makes this an even more heartbreaking decision to have had to make.”

These latest Badminton Horse Trials withdrawals mean three more pairs have been accepted from the waiting list: France’s Cyrielle Lefèvre with Charline Guerin’s Armanjo Serosah, Britain’s Tom Rowland on Robin Patrick’s Possible Mission, and Gloucestershire-based Canadian Michael Winter with his own and his wife Emma’s El Mundo.

The cut-off of 2pm on Sunday 1 May has now passed so no more horses will be accepted from the waiting list.

Horses down to 16th place on the list have made it into the event. Since the waiting list system was brought in in 2008, the number of horses accepted from the waiting list has varied between 14 and 43, so 16 is at the lower end of the number expected to get in, although it is one more than last time the event ran, in 2019.

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Pippa Roome

H&H magazine editor and eventing editor

Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.