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Graffalo lords it and Harry Meade is triply brilliant over an influential track: catch up on Saturday’s action at Burghley

Martha Terry Martha Terry

    • It’s been a day of spellbinding action in the Defender Burghley Horse Trials cross-country phase, with a huge shake-up of the leaderboard. But it’s still Ros Canter at the head of the field – albeit on a different horse to her dressage leader.

    The pathfinder Harry Meade piloted three horses to clear rounds, and has wound up with two in the top five. Only four were inside the time, and Harry was at the reins of two of them. Derek di Grazia’s track proved every bit as testing as expected, though possibly not at the fences that riders were predicting. 

    Here’s a round-up of day three at Burghley:

    Ros Canter has retained control at the top of the leaderboard, with a copybook round.

    The day started with Harry Meade’s pathfinding brilliance, but the dressage leader’s bid unravelled.

    Tom Jackson crept closer to the podium with a fast clear on Capels Hollow Drift.

    Alex Bragg rocketed up the leaderboard with the first clear inside the time.

    Emily King was among the favourites for the title, but things didn’t go her way.

    Alice Casburn caught the eye as she moved up from 48th after dressage to 11th overnight.

    One of the big surprises of the day was the number of top riders coming a cropper.

    Gemma Stevens had a super round on the speedy Chilli Knight to move up to sixth.

    The cross-country phase went to the wire, as the last three riders were all in contention.

    We also caught up with some contenders with interesting stories away from the heat of the action.

    Most top-class horses are worth five or six figures – but one Burghley ride was bought for a single dollar.

    Australian rider Sophia Hill is making the most a five-month “holiday” in Britain to tackle her first Burghley.

    US rider Hannah Sue Hollberg is riding a horse who is still improving at 17 years old.

    Harry Meade achieved an astonishing feat in jumping clear on all three of his rides

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    Martha Terry
    Martha Terry

    H&H features editor
    Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
    Martha Terry

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