What must make the victory all the sweeter is that the 16-year-old Chilli Knight (“Alfie”), owned and bred by Christopher and Lisa Stone, is a horse she has known from birth.
She received her trophy from HRH the Princess Royal, herself a Burghley winner at the 1971 European Championships.
Another British rider, 44-year-old Katie Magee from Co Durham, scored her best ever five-star result when rising two places with just one fence down to finish as runner-up on Treworra.
American competitor Caroline Pamukcu, 31, competing at her first Burghley, jumped clear to rise from fifth place to third on HSH Blake.
“I had no idea that I had three fences in hand,” said an emotional Gemma, 41. “My husband Gary said, ‘Just imagine that you are going into the ring at Hickstead’ and that is what I did.
“This really means the world. On Saturday night at the world championships [after her elimination in Aachen three weeks ago], Chris Stone sent me the best text message. He said, ‘This is a bad day but we’re going to go to Burghley and we’re going to win it.’
“This represents 25 years of work and finally I have managed to win a ‘big B’ [Burghley or Badminton]. We so nearly won Badminton a couple of years ago, and I have just known in my heart of hearts that there was a big win in this horse. We just needed our stars to align, and everything has aligned this week.”
It was also a milestone result for Katie Magee, who is trained by the 2021 European champion Nicola Wilson. “I am absolutely delighted,” she said. “It has taken me a long time to get to this point.
“In my humble opinion I think Treworra is one of the best cross-country horses around. I loved it and he loved it too and was foot perfect. It is something I will remember forever.”
Caroline, too, had endured an unlucky world championship at Aachen, falling off on the cross-country when second to go for the US team. “I was gutted and went to Pippa Funnell’s to regroup. I have had to overcome quite a bit mentally but this has really made up for it.
“This horse [HSH Blake, an 11-year-old Irish sport horse] is a special guy. I have had him since the beginning and there is no horse I would rather be on at my first Burghley.”
Britain’s Tom Jackson notched up another excellent Burghley result when fourth on Hawk Eye and Switzerland’s Nadja Minder, who has captured British hearts this weekend with her grand old campaigner Toblerone, achieved her best five-star result in fifth place.
The 2022 world champion Yasmin Ingham enjoyed a spectacular Burghley debut, finishing sixth on the exciting prospect Goliath Du Loir, and US rider Will Coleman, who won the Avebury Trophy for the best-ridden cross-country round, rose six places to seventh on the mare Very Dignified.
For the record books, only 1% of competitors in the last 20 years have finished on their dressage score at Burghley, according to equestrian sports statistics company EquiRatings, and Gemma’s winning margin was the biggest since Blyth Tait’s in 1998.
In addition, the victory of Chilli Knight makes his sire, the Stones’ Chilli Morning, the only stallion to both sire a five-star winner and win a five-star himself (Badminton in 2015 with William Fox-Pitt). Gemma also competed the dam, Kings Gem, at five-star level, and is now also riding three full-brothers to Chilli Knight.
Yet again, Burghley has produced a very worthy winner with a great story to add to Winner’s Avenue in this special 65th anniversary year.
Aussies Ema Klugman and Chiraz produce another CCI5*-L completion
US-based Australian combination Ema Klugman and 13-year-old Chiraz completed the British CCI5*-L, marking their second completion at the highest level following Kentucky CCI5*-L earlier this year.
The duo’s Burghley campaign began with a dressage score of 38.5, before the pair jumped clear around a tough cross country track, albeit with 61.6 time penalties. On a course where 18 combinations retired or were eliminated – including fellow Australian Sam Jefree with Santoro – it was a solid effort. Ema and Chiraz had the first two fences down in the final jumping phase before jumping the rest clear, adding 8 jump faults and 1.2 time faults to their final total (109.3) for 26th place overall from an initial field of 48.
Sam and Santoro unfortunately had a run-out at fence 10C and were recorded as a missed jump for 10D, resulting in elimination during the cross country phase.
As one of only six CCI5*-L competitions around the globe, Defender Burghley always attracts the very top athletes, and ranks alongside Wimbledon and The Masters as a sporting “major”. The event offers superb shopping opportunities, delicious food and drink, elegant hospitality options and lots to entertain children and less-horsey members of the family.
In 2027, Defender Burghley will take place from 2-5 September.
Full results can be found here.
Source: Event press release, edited by Equestrian Life
