Ros Canter triumphs at Defender Burghley
Ros Canter on Lordships Graffalo (above), Olympic gold team medallist from Paris 2024, reigned supreme with an impressive triumph at Defender Burghley Horse Trials (4-7 September). Her impressive win – Ros's first ever at Burghley – landed her a prize of £110,000.
With a 23.6 finishing score – the best in the 63-year history of Defender Burghley – it was the climax of an exceptionally successful 18-month run for Ros with Archie and Michele Saul’s 12-year-old Lordships Graffalo, nicknamed Walter. As well as taking an Olympic team gold medal this summer, she enjoyed victories at Badminton and the 2023 European Championship.
“It was an amazing opportunity to bring Walter here,” explained Lincolnshire-based Ros, who has been competing at Burghley since her Pony Club days. “If there was ever an event and a horse that were well-matched, this was it.
“Defender Burghley has always been an event I felt I hadn’t got quite right and it was great to be able to bring a horse like Walter and to let rip. I was determined to enjoy it — I sometimes struggle to enjoy top-level competitions — but this week I felt I got the balance right.”
With just one fence down, New Zealander Tim Price had a near-perfect round on Joe and Alex Giannamore’s Vitali, a famously difficult horse to manage in the tense atmosphere of the showjumping finale.
“You have to reinvent the wheel each time with this horse,” revealed Tim. “I believe in him and have long been trying to find the key to his long-format jumping issues, so I am thrilled. Today will go down as one of the greatest days of my life.”
Harry Meade was third and fourth on Cavalier Crystal, also third in 2023, and the relatively inexperienced Annaghmore Valoner, and 12th on Superstition.
“It’s been a whirlwind week trying to do all three horses justice, and so this is a great outcome,” said Harry, whose late father Richard won Burghley 60 years ago in 1960.
“As a little boy, I grew up wanting to ride at the big events. It’s what I try and dedicate my life to and one day I hope to be sitting where Ros is sitting.”
The 2022 Defender Burghley runners-up, Tom Jackson and Capels Hollow Drift, finished fifth. Frenchman Gaspard Maksud on Zaragoza was the best first-timer in sixth position, followed by compatriot Nicolas Touzaint in seventh on Absolut Gold HDC. British riders Alexander Bragg on Quindiva, Gemma Stevens on Chilli Knight and Alice Casburn on Topspin finished eighth, ninth and 10th places respectively.
Photography: DBHT/Peter Nixon
With a 23.6 finishing score – the best in the 63-year history of Defender Burghley – it was the climax of an exceptionally successful 18-month run for Ros with Archie and Michele Saul’s 12-year-old Lordships Graffalo, nicknamed Walter. As well as taking an Olympic team gold medal this summer, she enjoyed victories at Badminton and the 2023 European Championship.
“It was an amazing opportunity to bring Walter here,” explained Lincolnshire-based Ros, who has been competing at Burghley since her Pony Club days. “If there was ever an event and a horse that were well-matched, this was it.
“Defender Burghley has always been an event I felt I hadn’t got quite right and it was great to be able to bring a horse like Walter and to let rip. I was determined to enjoy it — I sometimes struggle to enjoy top-level competitions — but this week I felt I got the balance right.”
With just one fence down, New Zealander Tim Price had a near-perfect round on Joe and Alex Giannamore’s Vitali, a famously difficult horse to manage in the tense atmosphere of the showjumping finale.
“You have to reinvent the wheel each time with this horse,” revealed Tim. “I believe in him and have long been trying to find the key to his long-format jumping issues, so I am thrilled. Today will go down as one of the greatest days of my life.”
Harry Meade was third and fourth on Cavalier Crystal, also third in 2023, and the relatively inexperienced Annaghmore Valoner, and 12th on Superstition.
“It’s been a whirlwind week trying to do all three horses justice, and so this is a great outcome,” said Harry, whose late father Richard won Burghley 60 years ago in 1960.
“As a little boy, I grew up wanting to ride at the big events. It’s what I try and dedicate my life to and one day I hope to be sitting where Ros is sitting.”
The 2022 Defender Burghley runners-up, Tom Jackson and Capels Hollow Drift, finished fifth. Frenchman Gaspard Maksud on Zaragoza was the best first-timer in sixth position, followed by compatriot Nicolas Touzaint in seventh on Absolut Gold HDC. British riders Alexander Bragg on Quindiva, Gemma Stevens on Chilli Knight and Alice Casburn on Topspin finished eighth, ninth and 10th places respectively.
Photography: DBHT/Peter Nixon