Catch-up: Badminton Horse Trials - Cross Country

1. Oliver Townend (GBR) and Jonelle Price (NZL) tied on 28 penalties going in to final day
2. Defending champion Andrew Nicholson in 12th with Nereo
3. Townend looking to complete Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing
4. The 4.2 mile course features 32 fences

BBC coverage

BBC will be broadcasting the final two days of the Badminton Horse Trials.

Following the dressage earlier in the week, our coverage starts today with the Cross Country event and continues tomorrow with the Show Jumping.

Saturday, 5 May

11:20-17:30 BST - Cross country - BBC Red Button & BBC iPlayer

Sunday, 6 May

12:30-14:00 BST - Badminton Horse Trials final day, BBC Two

14:00-15:00 BST - Live Show Jumping, BBC Red Button

17:30-18:00 BST - Show Jumping, BBC Two

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Can Townend complete the Grand Slam?

After winning both September's Burghley Horse Trials and April's Kentucky Three-Day Event, Great Britain's Oliver Townend will be looking to complete the illustrious Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing with victory at Badminton.

The Grand Slam is achieved by completing a clean sweep of the three major events on the Eventing calendar and consists of a £255,000 prize. It has only been achieved on two previous occasions, by Britain's Pippa Funnell in 2003 and Germany's Michael Jung in 2016.

The 35-year-old Yorkshireman would also earn £100,000 prize money for winning Badminton.

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What are the Badminton Horse Trials?

Taking place once a year on the Badminton Estate in South Gloucestershire, the Badminton Horse Trials has become one of the headline events of the equestrian calendar since its inception in 1949.

It is one of just six annual Four Star equestrian events and forms the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing alongside the Burghley Horse Trials and the Kentucky Three Day event.

Eventing is the triathlon of the horse world where horse and rider compete in three phases, the first is dressage, the second cross country and the third element is showjumping.

Last year’s competition was won by New Zealand’s Andrew Nicholson, who was riding Nereo. The last Brit to win at Badminton was William Fox-Pitt, who took the trophy alongside Chilli Morning in 2015.

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Get Inspired: How to get into Equestrian sports

Get Inspired

#GetInspired

Although horse riding might not seem like an obvious form of exercise, it pretty much involves all the muscles in your body in order to control the horse while maintaining posture and balance. What is more, for many people, the most enjoyable aspect of the sport is the bond you create with a horse.

Competitively, horse riding is one of the very few sports where women and men can compete equally and there are a number of equestrian disciplines and equine sports you can specialise in once you have mastered the basics.

There are three main competitive equestrian disciplines which are designed to test horsemanship: dressage, showjumping and eventing. When first starting, it is common for riders to try each discipline before specialising based on their abilities and preferences.

If you are interested in taking up horse riding, you can find a local riding school near you by visiting Hoofride. Find other opportunities near you by visiting the British Equestrian Federation and Horse Scotland.