Holly Richardson: The rider flying the flag for Yorkshire at Burghley Horse Trials
Richmond rider Holly Richardson waved the flag for Yorkshire at Burghley Horse Trials. Stuart Minting finds out how she got on.
Yorkshire rider Holly Richardson produced another masterful performance to set the early standard on cross-country Saturday at Defender Burghley.
Third to go, following American pathfinder Caroline Pamukcu and New Zealand challenger Tim Price, she finished two seconds inside the optimum time with Ballyneety Silver Service.
And it came just four months after they did the same job at Badminton, while only 9.2 time penalties were collected on her 11-year-old's Burghley debut in 2025.
"He set off a bit fresh and then he settled down, and he was just absolutely amazing everywhere. He was on the line, on the button and kept galloping all the way," Ms Richardsonson said.
"I set out with a plan and stuck to it. I had a Plan B if it was going wrong, but he just kept answering the questions perfectly and we kept to Plan A all the way."
Ms Richardson, who has a degree in biomedical science and rides full-time from her base in Breckenbrough, near Richmond in North Yorkshire, held a top-three place more than halfway through Saturday after providing further proof of the combination's five-star excellence in the pivotal cross-country phase.
However she was left to rue her mistakes after dropping out of podium position on the final day of the trials.
The 32-year-old was sat in third position coming into the final phase of competition following a clear cross-country performance that saw her as one of only two riders to make the expected time of the course.
But with five fences down in the showjumping alongside Irish-bred 11-year-old gelding Ballyneety Silver Service, it meant that the duo slipped down the rankings to 15th overall with a score of 59.1.
Despite the disappointment of missing out on a possible first 5* podium, Richardson was still in high spirits with her horse's performance over what is a difficult three-day event.
"I am a little bit disappointed, but it's not as easy as it feels," she said on Sunday.
"it is not really the end result we would hope for, but equally we understand that that can happen with these horses.
"He was absolutely amazing yesterday; I just can't take that away from him and he will get better in this phase."
Richardson was the only rider on the final day of competition to run two horses, with 16-year-old gelding Bally Louis, who took her to the first Badminton Horse Trials in 2024, also in contention.
They finished 25th overall on a score of 107.9, with a tough cross-country phase letting them down.
But with zero jump faults and only 1.2 time faults in the showjumping it showed that together, Ms Richardson has two strong jumping horses and will just need to learn from each to form her dream 5* horse.
She said: "My other horse, who is a jumping and galloping horse and quite similar, he's got better and better as he's got older, and then he jumped away this morning.
"He will get there we just have to keep going."
Ms Richardson, who starting riding out for British Olympian Karen Dixon from the age of 12, lives on her family’s farm, although her family is not involved in horses but are well known in the trials and enduro biking world..
She is trained by Chris Bartle, Helen Bell and Melissa Chapman.
Away from competing, she enjoys reading, doing laboratory work and following equine science.
The Defender Burghley Horse Trials, near Stamford in Lincolnshire, attracts fantastic crowds to witness exhilarating equestrian action as the world's best eventers compete in a comprehensive test of the all-round ability of the horse and rider, comprising Dressage, Cross-Country and Jumping.
It is regarded as the world's greatest 5* equestrian event, with an average of 80 of the world’s top competitiors and a prize fund of more than £300,000, all watched by more than 173,000 visitors over four days.
Today the event has become one of the most popular and highly regarded within the equestrian and social calendars and ranks within the UK’s top ten national sporting occasions by attendance.
Burghley Horse Trials is one of only seven CCI 5* events worldwide, the star rating denoting the highest standard of event (technically and administratively) and the most challenging test of horse and rider.
This year's three-day event saw a brilliant outing for all involved, with Britain's Gemma Stevens taking the title to make it six British winners in a row.