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.
Badminton, one of only seven five-star events in eventing, opens the international season at the Badminton Estate in Gloucestershire from Wednesday 5 to Sunday 9 May 2027.
The 10th Duke of Beaufort started the trials in 1949 in the park of his own house. 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, an outrageous claim at the time.
Five-star is the top grade the international federation awards, and the cross-country course is the reason Badminton holds it. Horses that have passed a dressage test cross fixed timber over the estate’s own ditches, banks and water at speed. They jump a course of poles the following day.
Around 180,000 people come across the days, most of them for the Saturday cross country. The crowd walks the course alongside the fences rather than watching from a stand. The trade stands are a fixture in their own right.