H&C has learned that Mary King has withdrawn her top horse, Imperial Cavalier, from this year’s Badminton competition. The horse was also entered for the Rolex Kentucky four-star, but had to be withdrawn due to a virus.

"We've had the virus on the yard for about a month now and all the horses have had it apart from my daughter Emily's horse, King Joules," said Mary.

“Imperial Cavalier will still need two more weeks on the easy list. Plan B was to reroute him to Badminton if he hadn't recovered in time to go to Kentucky,” she explained.

"I guess now we may aim at a four-star in Luhmuhlen, Germany, in June. It is very disappointing, especially for his owners The Davis family, but it is just a matter of time; we have to wait it out."

Apache Sauce will still contest Badminton, and according to Mary, he feels on top of his game: "He galloped on Thursday morning and came out of it well."

Mark Todd (NZ) will not feature in this year’s 60th anniversary running of Badminton Horse Trials.

His grey partener, Gandalf, has been withdrawn due to a neck injury. "He put his neck out about three or four weeks ago — it's just one of those mystery things," said Mark. "He's actually better now, but he's missed too much work.

"In a funny way I was actually umming and ahhing about whether it [Badminton] was the right thing to do because he had such a busy year last year and now it's been decided for me."

The UK based event rider - also known as Mr Stickability for his amazing ability to stay aboard in sticky moments - was due to continue his legendary comeback after coming out if retirement last year.

Mark still hopes to take Gandalf to the World Cup qualifier at Tattersalls and to Burghley.