This year’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (29 August-2 September) cross-country course, designed by Captain Mark Phillips and built by Philip Herbert and his team, looks like it will be as challenging as ever for competitors.
We take a look at what the course has in store for the horses and riders who will tackle it on Saturday 1 September.
Fence 1: Olympic Horse Shoe
Fence 2: Flower Bed
Fence 3: Picnic Table
Fence 4a, b, c: Land Rover 70th Anniversary
Fence 5a, b, c: Discovery Valley — alternative route is to jump the first log to the ditch and then the narrow log on the left
Fence 6: Rolex Grand Slam Rails
Fence 7a, b, c and 8: Leaf Pit
Straight c and fence 8 directly ahead, with alternative c to the right and alternative fence 8 coming back towards the camera far left
Alternative fences 7a and b
Fence 9a, b, c, d: Discovery Valley
Alternative fence 9b and c is to jump the ditch and then the far left oxer. The direct route is to jump just the right-hand oxer
Fence 10: Gurkha Kukri
Fence 11a, b, c and 12a, b: Land Rover Trout Hatchery
Direct triple brush on the left, alternative on the right
Alternative log into the water with longer route brush out on the left
Fence 13: Captain’s Log:
Fence 14a, b, c, d: Joules at the Maltings direct route
Alternative route — these two houses, followed by an oxer and then parallel rails
Fence 15a, b, c, d: Rolex Combination
Alternative route — oxer followed by the ditch, rail and then corner
Fence 16: Pardubice
Fence 17a, b: Land Rover at the Lake
Fence 18: Winners’ Avenue
Fence 19: Cottesmore Leap
Fence 20a, b: Keeper’s Brushes
Alternative route
Fence 21a, b, c and 22: Clarence Court direct route
Alternative route
Fence 23: Capability’s Cutting
Fence 24: Collyweston Slate Mine
Fences 25 and 26: Anniversary Splash
Fence 27: Lion Bridge
Fence 28: Parasols
Fence 29: Lambert’s Sofa
Fence 30: Land Rover Finale
Don’t miss H&H’s Burghley preview, including a full form guide and a scorecard to fill in for every rider, on sale now (issue dated Thursday 23 August), and you can read the full report in next week’s magazine (Thursday 6 September).