Top riders have given their reactions to the 2022 Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course, designed for the first time this year by the US’s Derek di Grazia.
“It’s Burghley, isn’t it?” said Pippa Funnell. “You come out of the arena [after fence four] and it’s quite serious through Defender Valley [fence five] up to the Leaf Pit – a lot of very big jumps.
“The Trout Hatchery is always big. It invites you to get out there and try to be attacking; be brave, be bold. Once you’re once through the Trout Hatchery hopefully you can settle into a bit of rhythm.
“The Defender at the Dairy Farm is a little bit of a tricky question and then there are a lot of big jumps coming home – you have to remember at Burghley, terrain is hugely important as well. I have to make sure the horse’s mind’s on the job and he’s not looking at crowds – and let’s hope his jockey’s feeling younger than ever!”
Francis Whittington said that the Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course is “not what I would put down as being a traditional Burghley track”.
He said: “It’s a different twist to it, but that’s the point of having different course-designers and I think that’s the benefit, that we’re not just riding those similar tracks every time. But Burghley is Burghley. Burghley is big, bold, scary, rider frighteners; you’ve got the undulations, you’ve got the hills and terrain, which creates enough of a question as it is and half the task is riding the horse at the beginning with enough at the end to finish up.”
Derek is known for numbering combination fences in such a way that he uses a lot of letters and limits whether riders can change their minds about their route in the middle of the complex.
Francis said: “I’m not a big fan of this abcdefgh – I ran out of fingers and alphabet! It all comes up really quickly, so when you’re trying to react when you’ve had a stumble and find an alternative route, you’re assessing the situation, you’re creating a new plan, you’re enacting that new plan. You’re doing all that within a second and a half, not having time to think about it.
“Now we’ve got to think, ‘Was that a-b, was that a-c, was that a-d?’ When you’re trying to assess all of that and stop yourself from having a serious injury and you’ve got a second and a half to make that decision, it’s an awful lot [to think about].”
The Trout Hatchery. Credit: Gemma Redrup
Francis added that riders are quering the numbering at the Trout Hatchery. At present, after jumping the rolltop into the second pond (fence 10cd), riders are committed to presenting to the skinny in the water (fence 10ef), because on the alternative route, the log in is element c and the step up is elements d and e.
“If you stumble there, ordinarily you would pick up quickly to the step up and go to the skinny, but if you do that now you end up being eliminated [for jumping element d twice],” said Francis.
Francis said that at present, riders are being told they can only go from the rolltop to the step without being eliminated by making a circle. By circling, they would accept 20 penalties, but because riders can re-take elements of fences after a stop, they would not be eliminated if they did this.
“The Trout Hatchery isn’t big enough to make a circle so you would start riding backwards to turn on a sixpence. That doesn’t make sense,” Frances said, confirming that riders are requesting a review of this fence. “I think it’s wrong.”
Update on Thursday evening: a change has now been made to the numbering at this fence
Derek di Grazia’s Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course
Tim Price commented on the Holland Cooper Leaf Pit at fence 7abcde (pictured top).
“That will come up very quickly – you’ll be hanging on for dear life and letting the horse do the job,” he said.
Tim has ridden courses designed by Derek at Kentucky Three-Day Event and the Tokyo Olympics.
“Just the same as at Kentucky and the other places he designs, he really uses the ground,” said Tim, picking out the way horses have to travel along the ridgeline to a corner at fence 8ab, the second time through Defender Valley, as an example of this.
The corner out of Defender Valley at fence 8b. Credit: Gemma Redrup
“Then after the Dairy Farm – which is tough in itself – there are the blue oxers [Fairfax & Favor Boot Racks, fence 19ab] which send you off and flying down a slope. I actually think they will cause more concern than what’s just round the corner, the Cottesmore Leap.”
The Fairfax & Favor Boot Racks at fence 19ab. Credit: Gemma Redrup
Ireland’s Padraig McCarthy said the Burghley Horse Trials cross-country course is “a different kind of animal” to the last time he walked the track here, in 2018.
“It starts quite big – Defender Valley and onto the Leaf Pit looks like a real five-star, but I think the feeling and the philosophy is a little bit different out in the park,” he said.
“Derek has been clever how he uses the stride patterns and the angles, and maybe less the big bruising jumps we’ve seen here in the past. But that could also be that I have a really good cross-country horse and I think that always changes your opinion of how the course walks and how to ride it.
“It’s definitely a five-star, don’t get me wrong, but I’m looking forward to getting out there.”
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