Weather brightening up - but cross-country day may favour the mud larks

Riders with an early draw may be thanking their lucky stars as the predicted heavy rain that arrived at Badminton yesterday has continued to fall throughout the night and into this morning. Cross-country day should certainly favour proven mud larks as the wet weather shows little sign of relenting with just an hour to go before the first combination is due to leave the start box.


The last paricularly wet cross-country day at Badminton was in 2004, where experienced combinations came to the fore. That year, William Fox-Pitt secured his first Badminton win with Tamarillo.

Andrew Nicholson, who is bidding to add his name to the Mitsubishi Motors trophy for the first time, sets off at 11.24am on the first of his two rides, Nereo, who won at Bramham last year. Andrew admitted yesterday that we would look favourably on a wet cross-country day.

He said: “It should work in my favour if it rains all night.”

The damp conditions certainly don’t seem to have deterred the crowds. There were already queues forming as early as 7.45am to get into the car parks.

Pack your wellies, but with the rain easing off and a forecast of Sunny spells for the start of cross country, get set for a great day and a rollercoaster ride.