European champions Tina Cook and Miners Frolic head the entries for this year’s Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials. The combination, European gold medalists in France last September, should be among leading contenders for the £60,000 top prize.
It will be Miners Frolic’s Badminton debut as Britain’s top eventers turn out in force, for what will be a nail biting few days of competition.
Badminton Horse Trials is arguably the best three day event in the world and always boasts an impressive list of international competitors – and this year is no different.
Riders from all over the world are set to compete including Australia’s Matt Ryan and Paul Tapner; Belgium’s Karin Donckers; New Zealand’s Andrew Nicholson; Americas’s Phillip Dutton and many more! Please see http://www.badminton-horse.co.uk/pdf/Accepted%20Entries.pdf for the full list of accepted entries.
Defending Badminton champion Oliver Townend is likely to go with ODT Master Rose and Golden Hue, although it promises to be a hectic time for the Shropshire-based star.
The weekend before Badminton, which this year runs from April 30 until May 3, Townend and his new horse Ashdale Cruise Master will contest the Rolex Grand Slam in Kentucky – a feat that has only ever been achieved once before!
A £230,000 prize is on offer for Townend if he can add the Kentucky crown to his four-star wins at Badminton and Burghley last year.
Britain’s Pippa Funnell is the only rider to achieved the grand slam, in 2003.
“These two guys, Golden Hue and Master Rose, I know inside out, and I still think of them as young horses that I am still producing,” Townend told Press Association Sport.
“I will definitely be there to try and win it. I don’t think you get horses to that level not to be competitive and not to get round.”
Townend’s European team gold medal-winning colleague William Fox-Pitt has also entered four horses – Idalgo, Macchiato, Seacookie TSF and Cool Mountain.
Reigning world eventing champion Zara Phillips, meanwhile, has confirmed she will take Glenbuck – 16th at Badminton last year – and a new addition to her Gatcombe yard Poilu, a horse previously ridden by Australian event rider Clayton Fredericks.
Badminton gets under way on the Friday 30th April with two days of dressage, followed by cross-country on the Sunday and concluding with showjumping on May Day Bank Holiday. A change to the usual schedule when riders finish with show jumping on the Sunday.
Remember to book your tickets for the Hooked on Horses Road Trip before it’s too late! You can book the trip online – see the online shop- or please see the March issue of HoH magazine for more information.
