Oliver Townend hopes to make Burghley eventing history

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGeY6SK_0Ng

Shropshire equestrian star Oliver Townend and his horse Carousel Quest will aim to make eventing history at this year's Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials.

The showpiece four-star competition, staged at Stamford in Lincolnshire, has attracted an 82-strong field and begins with today's opening dressage tests.

And all eyes will be on Townend, based at Dudleston Heath, near Ellesmere, who is targeting another £50,000 pay-day aboard the horse he won at Burghley 12 months ago.

That emphatic success completed a memorable Badminton/Burghley double in 2009, and Shropshire-based Townend now has an added incentive of rewriting the Burghley record books.

If Townend and his grey gelding triumph again, they will become the first combination to win Burghley twice in succession since its inception 49 years ago.

A star-studded entry list though, includes several other riders with serious title ambitions — notably five-time Burghley champion William Fox-Pitt, his fellow British Olympian Mary King, New Zealander Andrew Nicholson and Australian Paul Tapner, who landed his first Badminton crown four months ago.

"Looking back on Burghley last year, it was a huge achievement, and it would be great to try to do the same thing again," said Townend.

"I think winning it is still sinking in, even though Burghley is now here again. Hopefully, it will be us this year, and hopefully, the dream will continue."

The current eventing season has been far from plain-sailing for Townend.

His bid to land the £230,000 Rolex Grand Slam in Kentucky last April ended with a crashing fall from Ashdale Cruise Master that left Townend nursing multiple fractures.

He did not defend the Badminton title, while Carousel Quest suffered elimination during Germany's top four-star event at Luhmuhlen before Townend failed to make Great Britain's six-rider squad for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky later this month.

Away from the four-star arenas, he has enjoyed notable success on his burgeoning string of horses, such as landing the British Novice Championship at Gatcombe with Jeepers Creepers, while also winning a three-star World Cup event aboard Ashdale in Ireland.

Burghley is also the penultimate leg of the 2010 HSBC FEI Classics, with Fox-Pitt and Tapner knowing they could capitalise on series leader Andreas Dibowski's absence.

By MALCOLM LEE