Eventing legend Pippa Funnell praises "old boy" Majas Hope at Burghley

By Lucy Wilde, Sportsbeat

Pippa Funnell has a hefty silverware collection but instead of eyeing up individual glory at the Defender Burghley Horse Trials she’s putting enjoyment at the top of the priority list.

The British rider is no stranger to competing on a grand stage, having first won team eventing silver at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games before repeating the trick four years later in Athens.

With two horses entered into the mix at Burghley, the 55-year-old produced a clinical first dressage performance to record 28.3 with MCS Maverick but couldn’t quite repeat that success in her second outing.

“I’m happy enough with that,” she said after her gelding Majas Hope recorded a score of 29.6 on a very sunny afternoon at the Stamford venue.

“We all know how difficult Hopey finds this phase. He’s a good old boy, between the two of us we have a combined age of 73 - that’s a lot of experience.

“I’m thankful I was in front of Ros this time and not following her.”

The Crowborough local was set a tall order on the first day of the prestigious competition, following fellow Brit Ros Canter who scored the second highest ever dressage result seen at Burghley since 1961.

Fresh off the back of team eventing gold at the Paris Olympics, Canter followed up her historic first outing with a near-perfect replica to score 22.0 and slot her second horse, Lordships Gruffalo, into second place.

Funnell however was the first person in history to win the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing after consecutive wins at Kentucky, Badminton and Burghley in 2003, so knows a thing or two about pacing herself.

“Neither horses have particularly easy walks so the walk is long, there’s lots of pirouettes, so I have to be pleased with both of them," she said.

“It would be nice being in the early 20s but where Maverick is and Hope, anything under 30 is a real good thing so I’m pretty chuffed with that overall.”

Next up Funnell must tackle the cross country course, famed for its punishing terrain and fences of gut-wrenching proportions, which riders must endure for over four miles.

“We’ll see how the cross country goes, there are big jumps out there so it’ll be interesting," she added. "We’ll go out there and have fun, it’s Burghley, it’s big but we’ll see how the horses go. We’ll attack it.”

Defender Burghley Horse Trials (5-8 September 2024) has been a major international sporting and social event for over 50 years. It attracts the world's top equestrians and is attended by vast and enthusiastic crowds. For more information visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk