The morning session of showjumping at the 2026 Mars Badminton Horse Trials is complete and the track, which is designed by Kelvin Bywater, has proved influential.

There have been four jumping clears, with just one combination jumping clear inside the time allowed of 82 seconds.

Germany’s Arne Bergendahl and Luthien NRW (pictured top) are the only ones to have achieved that feat so far.

“She’s an amazing jumper and I have competed her in pure 1.40m level showjumping classes,” said Arne. “This is her second five-star clear round showjumping, so I was quite confident.”

This year’s showjumping track has become a talking point, with many riders saying that it is big, square and technical.

New Zealand’s Jonelle Price jumped clear with Chilli’s Midnight Star, but added .4 of a time-fault to their overnight score of 44.3.

“Until the past couple of years, Badminton would have been one of the softer five-star showjumping tracks,” said Jonelle. “But it’s obviously on grass and you have the terrain to deal with in the arena – it’s not flat at all.

““He [Kelvin] has been very clever with the use of terrain. The fences are very square and upright and the distances ride short when you’re going downhill.”

Ireland’s Austin O’Connor, who picked up 12 jumping faults, plus 2.4 time-faults in the final phase with Sixmilewater, said it is “one of the biggest tracks” he’s seen at Badminton.

”It’s as big a Badminton showjumping track as I’ve ever seen,” said Austin. “It’s quite technical and the distances vary from a little bit open to a little bit closed – it’s a true five-star jumping track.”

David Doel jumped both of his rides, Ferro Point and Midnight Rollercoaster, in this morning’s session. They both picked up eight jumping faults.

”The course is massive and technical,” said David. “There’s a lot of twists and turns, which takes it out of the horses a little bit with all the rollbacks too.

“They aren’t just 90 degree turns – they’re 180 and 270 degree turns – and you’ve got to keep the canter going all the time, which can be tricky on the final day.”

The USA’s Cosby Green put in a beautiful round of jumping with the 18-year-old Jos Ufo De Quidam to jump clear, picking up .4 of a time fault.

”When I walked the track, I was pretty intimidated, so I was a little bit extra nervous,” said Cosby. “The oxers were square and I really had to focus on the rising and falling ground, but I thought it was a fantastic test.”

The afternoon session of showjumping gets underway at 2.45pm where the top 20 will jump in reverse order.

Image by Tim Wilkinson

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