Paul Tapner (AUS) and William Fox-Pitt (GBR) will be chomping at the bit to gain a big result at this weekend’s Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (GBR, September 2-5). It is the fourth leg of the 2010 HSBC FEI Classics™, which carries a prize-pot of US$333,000 to be shared by the five most successful riders across five CCI4* events, and both Paul Tapner and William Fox-Pitt are in the running.
The current standings leader, Andreas Dibowski (GER), who has a healthy seven point lead over this year’s Badminton and Lexington winners, is an absentee from Burghley, and Paul Tapner and William Fox-Pitt are poised to pounce on his crown.
Tapner, who looks set to make his debut on the Australian squad at the forthcoming Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™, has two horses with useful CCI4* form: Kilfinnie, 15th last year, and Stormhill Michael, 10th at Badminton.
Fox-Pitt, bidding for a record sixth victory at Burghley, has the Argentine Thoroughbred Macchiato, a winner at Luhmühlen in 2008 and fifth at Badminton last year, plus the German-bred Seacookie, seventh at Burghley in 2009.
Two more riders handily placed in the top 10 of the HSBC FEI Classics™ rankings have rides at Burghley: the 1996 winner Mary King (GBR) with the veteran Apache Sauce, fourth in 2008, and her home-bred mare Kings Temptress, and Andrew Nicholson (NZL), the victor in 1995 and 2000, with the brilliant jumper Armada and a choice of either Nereo or Avebury.
In reality, though, the HSBC FEI Classics™ is still wide open and any number of riders could make their mark this weekend. None will be more aware of that than the defending champion, Oliver Townend (GBR). If he recaptures the Land Rover trophy at Burghley on Carousel Quest, he will be the first rider in Burghley’s 49-year history to win it back-to-back on the same horse.
More than 80 horses from 13 nations are entered; the field ranges from the vast experience of double Olympic champion Mark Todd, 54, a five-times winner at Burghley who brings a new ride, Major Milestone, to 22-year-old Georgie Strang (GBR), who is lucky enough to have the ride on the wonderful 19-year-old Master Monarch, a CCI4* winner and third here in 2004 with Andrew Hoy.
Other Burghley debuts to watch are that of former Junior and Young Rider European Champion Laura Collett (GBR); Alex Hua Tian, who becomes the first Chinese representative to compete at Burghley, and Aistis Vitkauskas, who will be the first Lithuanian competitor.
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