The Open Weekly: Burghley Podium, Farrington Opens in Toronto, & a Chance to Test Yourself

Eventing Pamukcu on the Burghley Podium

Caroline Pamukcu & HSH Blake finished third at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials CCI5*-L. Britain's Gemma Stevens & Chilli Knight won, with Katie Magee & Treworra second.

Pamukcu started the final day fifth and moved up two places despite picking up four show jumping faults. Despite the horse being only 11, this was his third top-four finish at five-star inside a year. Fourth at the Maryland 5* last fall and second at Kentucky in April.

Caroline is the first US rider to stand on a Burghley podium since Sinead Halpin & Manoir de Carneville in 2012.

US Podium Finishes at Burghley

Rider & Horse	Year	Position
Caroline Pamukcu HSH Blake	2026	3rd
Sinead Halpin Manoir de Carneville	2012	2nd
Stephen Bradley Sassy Reason	1993	1st
Karen O’Connor Mr Maxwell	1991	3rd
Bruce Davidson J J Babu	1986	2nd
Torrance Watkins Poltroon	1979	2nd
John Michael Plumb Good Mixture	1974	2nd
Bruce Davidson Irish Cap	1974	1st

Will Coleman & Very Dignified finished seventh in the mare's first five-star together. The mare proved herself last fall at the inaugural US Equestrian Open Final at Morven Park when she was the only horse to finish on her dressage score (add no penalties across the two jumping phases). She backed it up this week at Burghley and looks to be a promising horse for the future.

The Fork at Tryon on September 10 is the next Series qualifier and it kicks off the last five. Tamie Smith leads on 235 points from Will Coleman on 215.

Boyd Martin is third on 190 with two horses entered. He has all six of his counting slots are filled, so anything he wins at Tryon has to displace a score he already owns. He took 125 points out of the same venue last September on the way to the title. The maths on his route back.

Julie Wolfert & SSH Playboy are also entered, holding the most recent win in the Series from Rebecca Farm in July. Thirty five qualifiers have produced thirty different winning combinations and not one has won two in a row. The record in front of her.

Full preview and fan guide land later this week.

Jumping Farrington Opens Season Six in Toronto

Kent Farrington & Descartes SR won the CSI5* 1.55m qualifier at the opening leg of Major League Show Jumping Season Six in Toronto, then came back to finish second in the $500,000 CSI5* Kubota Grand Prix. Farrington leads the early individual standings.

Major League Show Jumping runs its legs across Canada, the United States and Mexico, with the stated aim of building the audience for top-level jumping in North America. The remit overlaps with the US Equestrian Open, though the Open keeps its flag firmly planted at home.

Saturday's team competition went to the DIHP Roadrunners. McLain Ward and Olivia Sweetnam fly the American flag on that roster, but it was their Canadian and Irish teammates who delivered the title.

Second place went to the Trelawny Trailblazers and an all-American trio.

• Charlotte Jacobs & Rincoola Milsean
• Alex Matz & Clarimo
• Lillie Keenan & Corexstra Z

Toronto was the first time Corexstra Z had ever contested a CSI4* or CSI5*. The mare opened with Thursday's 5* 1.50m speed class, jumped clear and placed eighth. She then went double clear in the 5* 1.50m team competition across round one and the jump-off. Three rounds at the level, no faults, and a horse to keep an eye on.

Nine legs of Season Six still to run before the League reaches its own finale, and the full Toronto standings are here.

Dressage Two Qualifiers Left, and a Test of Your Own

Two qualifying opportunities are left, Dressage at Devon on September 22 and TerraNova on October 15, and the top eighteen in the standings after that go forward to Thermal in November.

So here is something to fill the gap. We have built a ten-question quiz on the movements that make up a Grand Prix test, each one described the way you would watch it happen in the arena rather than the way the rulebook defines it. Ten out of ten is harder than it looks.

Test yourself here.