‘It’s like Christmas morning’: special Burghley memories on the eve of 65th anniversary event

Defender Burghley Horse Trials starts tomorrow (2 September) and as the clock ticks down to the start of the 65th anniversary event, those closest to the CCI5* reflect on some of their favourite memories connected to the event.

Event president Miranda Rock, whose grandfather David Cecil, the sixth Marquess of Exeter, founded the horse trials in 1961, starts her day to the sound of “testing, testing” ringing out across the site’s PA system each morning.

“It’s like Christmas morning,” she said. “I think for all of us that live and work at Burghley – and this place is a village – and among the 200 staff that work for Burghley, I don't think there is anyone it doesn’t affect. It's a huge group effort, and it's a great crescendo towards that Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s hugely exciting, it’s in our DNA now.”

She added that the fixture is “such a calendar landmark, not just here at Burghley, but across the whole sporting sector” and that her grandfather would be “thrilled” at how it has grown from the first 19 competitors, 65 years ago.

“He was a passionate horseman, and that’s really what he wanted to do: to support riders who were brave enough to compete,” she said.

“He was an Olympian himself, a hurdler. He won a gold medal at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam and a silver in Los Angeles, and we’re very proud to have those medals still at Burghley.

“Beyond that, he became the president of the Amateur Athletics Association, and he organised the 1948 “Austerity” Games, as they were called, the [Olympic] Games that were held in London right after the war.

“It was lovely for us that Sebastian Coe came here during the torch relay in 2012, and he gave us his torch. He said, ‘It’s going to end up on the mantelpiece, and probably with people using it as an ashtray, so that feels a bit sad – I'd love it to be here’. We have a very nice display in the Olympic corridor in the house, with the 1948 torch and the 1912 torch side by side.”

Burghley cross-country course-designer Derek di Grazia shared some of his favourite memories of watching competitors tackle the courses he has designed at the Lincolnshire five-star.

“I remember two years ago when Harry Meade came with his three horses and he had three amazing rounds, all clear and two inside the time. That was really wonderful to watch,” he said, adding that for Harry to come back and have three great jumping clears again in 2025 was “really special to be able to see”.

“It's like watching Ros Canter here, as she makes it look so easy. When you see that kind of performance, it’s exciting,” he said.

Event director Martyn Johnson’s first Burghley memory as a child was the size of the jumps.

“I thought, ‘I can’t believe people actually jump those fences!’,” he said, adding that one of his other standout memories is watching Pippa Funnell win in 2023.

“I was here as a normal spectator. Zara [Tindall] went in last and had a fence down to finish second, and Pippa was the first to win the Rolex Grand Slam. That was very exciting – a real memorable moment,” he said.