Australian Sammi Birch is set for another CCI5*L start this season with Finduss PFB, with the pair ready to go as Defender Burghley Horse Trials gets underway later this week (4-7 September).
“Burghley bound as number 43! Beyond grateful to Parkfield Breeding and everyone who’s helped us get here, it takes an army! Excited to take on another 5* with the crazy ginger pony Loupy Louis!” said Sammi.
Sammi and the 14-year-old KWPN gelding (Saffier out of Belle Miranda, by Sarantos), owned by Parkfield Breeding, completed their third Badminton Horse Trials earlier this year – with Burghley now about to mark a sixth five-star start for the experienced combination.
Major stars and young talent among the Defender Burghley entries
A strong field of entries for Defender Burghley Horse Trials is headed by 2024 Burghley champions and Paris Olympics British team gold medallists Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo.
The Lincolnshire pair produced the best-ever finishing score – 26.6 – in Burghley’s history last autumn, and took their second MARS Badminton title in May, making them clear favourites for back-to-back Burghley victories.
Fifty-six combinations from eight nations are represented, and other top contenders include New Zealand’s Tim Price and Vitali, runners-up in 2024 and fresh from an impressive victory in Aachen in July. Tim won Burghley in 2018 and is striving to reach the top of the podium once more on what will be his 20th Burghley start, while no one is hungrier for a first CCI5* triumph than Britain’s Harry Meade. Harry became world number one earlier this summer following excellent results at Burghley last year, where he finished third, fourth and 12th on his three rides, and the spring CCI5*s Kentucky and Badminton.
Harry is once again planning to ride three horses at Defender Burghley – Annaghmore Valoner, Cavalier Crystal and Et Hop Du Matz.
Piggy March (GBR) will be back at Burghley for the first time since her 2022 success, this time with new ride MCS Maverick.
There are seven CCI5*-winning riders currently entered. The British contingent are Piggy March, Ros Canter and Ros’s Paris Olympics team-mate Laura Collett (Bling), while New Zealand also boast two in Tim Price and Caroline Powell (NZL, High Time V), who scored at Burghley in 2011 and again at Badminton in 2024. Ireland’s Austin O’Connor will be high on fans’ lists as a potential winner with his 2023 Maryland CCI5* hero Colorado Blue.
Fourteen riders will be making their Burghley debuts, and among them are the newly crowned British Open Champions Katie Magee (GBR) and Treworra. The pair were 11th at Badminton this year and will hope their run of great results extends to Burghley.
This is a first Burghley for Christoph Wahler, who was part of German’s gold medal-winning team at the 2022 World Championships. He will ride D’Accord FRH, on whom he was seventh at Badminton this year, and is the first German to compete at Burghley since the great multiple Olympic gold medal winner Michael Jung in 2018.
Lucy Latta (IRE) is another Burghley debutante who could shine; the talented amateur rider has entered her Badminton 2024 runner-up RCA Patron Saint.
The quality of this year’s Burghley entry is undoubted; those vying for a podium place also include young British rider Emily King (Valmy Biats), and it is the second-highest rated field in the past 10 years, according to Irish statistics company EquiRatings.
Event Director Martyn Johnson said: “I’m delighted that once again we have great entries for Defender Burghley. While there are some clear favourites, I think it is an open field featuring some superb cross-country horses, and I’m looking forward to seeing them in the spectacular setting of Burghley Park.”
You can find out more about the 2025 Defender Burghley Horse Trials here.
Source: 2025 Defender Burghley Horse Trials press release
