Burghley's First All-Female Podium Since 1989

Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight won the Defender Burghley CCI5*-L on 29.6. The winning margin was 13.4 penalties, the biggest at Burghley since roads and tracks came out of the format in 2006.

Katie Magee and Treworra were second on 43.0. Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake were third on 44.0. Three women filled the Burghley podium for the first time since 1989.

Chilli Knight's 104 is an impressive 13 points clear of Treworra's 91.

Horse & rider	Dressage	Final	HPR
Chilli Knight Gemma Stevens	29.6 2nd	29.6	104
Treworra Katie Magee	36.2 19th	43.0	91
HSH Blake Caroline Pamukcu	32.0 5th	44.0	90

There was a stretch when this barely counted as a talking point at Burghley. It happened eight times between 1967 and 1989. Lorna Clarke appears in three of those top threes. Jane Holderness-Roddam appears in three. Virginia Elliot won two of them.

Then it stopped. The 1989 podium of Virginia Elliot, Jane Thelwall and Lorna Clarke was the last one until Sunday.

Chilli Knight was second after dressage on 29.6 and never moved off it. He was one of only two horses in the field to get inside the cross-country optimum time, then jumped clear inside the time on Sunday. He now has two international wins in his career. Both of them are five-stars (Bicton 2021, Burghley 2026).

The sixteen-year-old stallion is by Chilli Morning out of King's Gem, the mare who Gemma Stevens rode very early in her CCI5* career. 

The 13.4 margin is the widest at Burghley in the two decades since roads and tracks left the format. Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo held the previous mark at 9.0 last year.

Year	Horse & rider	Score	Margin
2026	Chilli Knight Gemma Stevens	29.6	13.4
2025	Lordships Graffalo Rosalind Canter	23.6	9.0
2014	Avebury Andrew Nicholson	33.4	8.9
2006	Headley Britannia Lucinda Fredericks	25.4	7.7
2024	Lordships Graffalo Rosalind Canter	23.6	5.9
2009	Carousel Quest Oliver Townend	29.7	5.8
2022	Vanir Kamira Piggy March	27.0	5.5
2018	Ringwood Sky Boy Tim Price	27.3	4.6

Horse & rider	Year	Score	Finish
Chilli Knight Gemma Stevens	2026	29.6	1st
Cavalier Crystal Harry Meade	2024	31.3	3rd
Quindiva Alexander Bragg	2024	35.1	8th
Galileo Nieuwmoed David Doel	2023	33.7	2nd
Swallow Springs Andrew Nicholson	2018	32.1	3rd
Star Witness Kristina Cook	2017	35.5	7th
TS Jamaimo Christopher Burton	2015	30.0	3rd
Clifton Lush Jonathan Paget	2011	35.1	5th
Step In Time Mark Kyle	2011	46.3	24th
Lenamore Caroline Powell	2010	25.8	1st
Be My Guest Clayton Fredericks	2010	30.5	3rd
Major Milestone Mark Todd	2010	35.1	11th
Midnight Dazzler Harry Meade	2007	39.9	8th

Only Lenamore had turned a clean sheet into the Burghley title. Caroline Powell did it in 2010 on 25.8. Sixteen years later, Chilli Knight is the second.

Katie Magee had five international podiums before Burghley. None of them came above three-star. None of them came on this horse. Four of the five came on Cushlas Indigo at CCI2*-S and CCI3*-S.

Treworra scored 36.2 for nineteenth place after dressage, moved to fourth with 2.4 time penalties across country, and took second with one rail and 0.4 of a time penalty on Sunday. The twelve-year-old, by Jaguar Mail, returned a HPR of 91.

Caroline Pamukcu and HSH Blake gave the United States its first Burghley podium since Sinead Halpin was second on Manoir de Carneville in 2012. Eight US podiums in the history of the event, and Pamukcu owns the newest one.

The eleven-year-old Irish Sport Horse scored 32.0 for fifth after dressage, picked up 8 time penalties across country, and moved up to third with a single rail on the final day.

This was Blake's third top-four finish at CCI5* inside a year. Fourth at the Maryland 5* last fall, second at Kentucky in April, and now, third at Burghley 2026.

Burghley waited thirty-seven years for an all-female podium. It got the three best stories in the field with it.