Celebrating its 50th Anniversary, the centerpiece of this year’s Autumn, Classic of Eventing was undoubtedly the retro styled Cross Country track designed by Captain Mark Phillips with at its heart the spectacular new lake crossing.

Dressage on day one began in glorious weather with William Fox-Pitt and his four star newcomer Parklane Hawk setting the standard with a promising 39.7 point test which was only narrowly bettered on the following day by Germany’s Simone Deitermann and Free Easy NSW: whilst only these two partnerships achieved less than 40 penalty marks, the top twenty were separated by less than 10 points.

With 33 fences and 45 jumping efforts on the 6,650 metre journey across Burghley’s undulating terrain, Saturday’s Cross Country was certain to test stamina and concentration.

Soon after the pathfinder, Australia’s Sam Griffiths and Happy Times finished just four seconds over the optimum time of 11’40”, Andrew Nicholson and Avebury, the first of his two well-placed rides produced an immaculately timed effort to stay on their dressage score: however, moments later William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk also crossed the line within the time to re-establish their lead. When Simone Deitermann ran in to trouble just after Capabilities Cutting, the possibility of a record braking sixth Burghley success for William Fox-Pitt moved a little closer. However, a clear round by defending champions, New Zealand’s Caroline Powell and Lenamore followed by a thrilling display by Mary King and her Olympic hopeful Kings Temptress resulted in less than four points separating the top four.

In the presence of HRH the Princess Royal, who as Princess Anne won the European Championship at Burghley in 1971, the scene was set for a truly nail biting finish with William Fox-Pitt bidding to re-write the record books after his previous successes on Chaka in 1994, Highland Lad in 2002, Ballincoola in 2005, Parkmore Ed in 2007, and Tamarillio in 2008.

Added to Collection: 11/30/2011
Run time: 102 mins

Genres: FEI Competitions, Eventing