Horse trials at Burghley House have run since 1961, and the CCI5* is now one of only seven events the FEI ranks among the world's leading three-day trials.
Defender Burghley, one of the FEI’s seven leading three-day events, ran at Burghley House in Stamford, Lincolnshire, from Thursday 3 to Sunday 6 September 2026.
Horse trials have run at Burghley since 1961. That year its owner, the 6th Marquess of Exeter, offered his park after suspected foot and mouth disease cancelled a three-day event planned at Harewood House.
Burghley staged the first World Championship in 1966, and no other international site has held as many championships, a record ten. It is the longest continuously running of the seven leading events. With Kentucky and Badminton, it forms the Grand Slam of Eventing, for a rider who wins all three in succession.
William Fox-Pitt has won here more often than anyone else, six times since his first win aboard Chaka in 1994. The first trials drew 19 competitors and 12,000 spectators; the field is now around 80 riders, with roughly 173,000 through the gates.
The 2026 edition opened with the traditional Wednesday trot-up, then two days of dressage. Saturday’s cross country ran four miles and thirty fences, and Sunday’s show jumping, on a course by Paul Connor, closed the event.