The CCI5* at Badminton runs Wednesday 5 to Sunday 9 May 2027 — the first of the season's five-star three-day events, on the Beaufort estate.
The 10th Duke of Beaufort started Badminton in 1949 in the park of his own house in South Gloucestershire, for a plain reason: British riders had nowhere at home to prepare for international competition, and he had the ground. He advertised the first one as the most important horse trials in the world, which was an outrageous claim at the time and has since become an understatement. Seventy-seven runnings later it is one of only seven five-star events in the sport anywhere, and it is still held in the park of the Beaufort seat.
Five-star is the top grade the international federation awards, and there are three times as many Formula One rounds in a year as there are of these. The cross-country course is the reason: fixed timber over the estate’s own ditches, banks and water, ridden at speed by horses that have already been through a dressage test and will jump a course of poles the following day. Winning it is the closest thing eventing has to a career.
The 2027 trials run from Wednesday 5 to Sunday 9 May. Around 180,000 people come across the days, most of them for the Saturday cross-country, when the crowd walks the course alongside the fences rather than watching from a stand. The trade stands are a fixture in their own right.