"If ever any event horse matched an event, it was here with Walter at Burghley,” said Ros Canter, the new Defender Burghley Horse Trials champion.

It's not been a very lucky event for her in the past, her previous best finish was 11th, and last year she fell off Pencos Crown Jewel on the cross-country. But today, Ros won the 2024 Defender Burghley emphatically in front of a spellbound crowd. 

Though she had a show jump in hand over second placed Tim Price (NZ) and Vitali, she didn't need it on Lordships Graffalo (known as Walter at home) who loves a big occasion and jumped an assured clear with just 1.6 time penalties to complete on record low score of 23.6. 

As a Lincolnshire girl, Burghley has a special place in Ros’s heart:

“If I wasn’t competing, I would still come — there’s just something magical about this place. There’s nowhere else like it.”

Tim Price, who lay second after cross-country, conjured a brilliant round with just one show jump down, something of a triumph on Vitali, who struggles with this final phase at the big events.

“This will go down as one of my greatest days in the sport” he said. 

Britain’s Harry Meade repeated his third placing of 2023 on Cavalier Crystal — and backed it up with fourth as well on second mare, Annaghmore Valoner.
He also finished 12th on his third ride Superstition — a really remarkable effort.

“For me it’s been a bit of a whirlwind trying to do each horse justice, and hopefully I did that. I just hope one day to be sitting where Ros is sitting!”

Earlier in the day, there had not been a dry eye in the house when William Fox-Pitt rode a final lap of honour in the Main Arena to mark his retirement from high-level eventing.
With six wins under his belt, he is Burghley’s most prolific winner of all time, marked with a spontaneous standing ovation from the packed grandstands.

And Britain’s three Olympic Team Eventing champions — Tom McEwen, Laura Collett and, yes, Ros Canter — paraded in the Main Arena too in front of an appreciative crowd, their medals around their necks.

In every sense, this has been a golden Burghley.

Mark 4 - 7 September 2025 in your diary for next year’s Defender Burghley. 

DEFENDER BURGHLEY HORSE TRIALS 2025

4 - 7 SEPTEMBER 2025