Badminton Horse Trials Welcomes Strongest Ever Field of Competitors

Badminton Horse Trials Welcomes Strongest Ever Field of Competitors
Badminton Horse Trials competitor image credit Mike Bain
Advertisements

Badminton Horse Trials Welcomes Strongest Ever Field of Competitors for 2016badminton horse trials logo

Badminton Horse Trials 2016 News – Mitsubishi Motors 25th year as sponsors of the Badminton Horse Trials is marked by one of the strongest ever fields of competitors. The highlight is undoubtedly the return to top flight competition after serious injury last autumn of both William Fox-Pitt (Parklane Hawk) and Andrew Nicholson (Nereo and multiple Burghley winner Avebury); the German presence is headed by Olympic Champion Michael Jung with La Biosthetique Sam, accompanied by Ingrid Klimke, twice 2nd at Badminton, Andreas Dibowski, Bettina Hoy and Andreas Ostholt. Michael Jung also plans to take one horse to Rolex Kentucky, which after his Burghley win in 2015 gives him a shot at the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing, should he win in Kentucky.

Competition for the 4 places in the New Zealand Olympic team looks to be especially hot; Mark Todd has two rides, Blyth Tait returns after a 13 year absence, previous winner Jonathan Paget brings Clifton Promise and Clifton Lush, while husband and wife Tim and Jonelle Price will challenge these and Andrew Nicholson for places in Rio.

Notable British entries include former world champion Zara Tindall with her London Olympic and World Equestrian Games ride High Kingdom; previous winners Pippa Funnell and Oliver Townend; regular team members Tina Cook and Nicola Wilson; and several riders with a real chance of earning a ticket to the Games such as Gemma Tattersall, Izzy Taylor and Laura Collett.

2016 also sees a strong American contingent headed by multiple medallist Phillip Dutton, Boyd Martin with a choice of 4 rides, Buck Davidson and Lynn Symansky. As always the Irish will be out in force, with another husband and wife combination in Michael and Patricia Ryan, Aoife Clark, Joe Murphy and Camilla Spiers. The Australians have always rated Badminton highly as a prelude to Olympic Games – they have two previous Mitsubishi Motors Trophy winners in Paul Tapner and Sam Griffiths, together with Christopher Burton and Bill Levett.

Advertisements

25 years after her mother Mary won the first Mitsubishi Motors Trophy, Emily King hopes to make her debut at Badminton with Brookleigh.

The full list of accepted entries and the waiting list can be seen at www.badminton-horse.co.uk

Suzanne Ashton

Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012). Qualifications include a Ba Hons in Marketing Management and Diploma in Equine Studies. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses since a young child and has over a decade of experience in news writing and magazine content publication in the equestrian industry.