Can Lordships Graffalo Do What No Horse Has Done Before?
Since 1949, Badminton Horse Trials has crowned nearly 70 winners. In all that time, no combination has ever won the event three times. Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo have the chance to change that in 8 weeks.
Ros Canter is back in the saddle. Just weeks after giving birth, the reigning Badminton and Burghley champion has returned to riding and she's already got her sights set on May.
@ros_canter_eventing We are back! Let the road to Badminton commence...
After completing the 'Double Double' in 2025 — becoming the first horse to win both Badminton and Burghley twice — Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo return with history in their sights. Six combinations have won Badminton twice. None has ever won it three times.
A third Badminton title would be unprecedented. But if the numbers tell us anything, it's that breaking this record won't come easy. This is one of the most gruelling competitions in thesport, and to win it you have to beat the most elite combinations in the world.
How Hard Is It to Win Badminton 5*?
Badminton consistently attracts the most competitive fields in the sport. Using Elo field strength (calculated by averaging the Elo ratings of the top 25 horses entered), Badminton appears four times in the top 10 strongest five-star competitions on record.
The 2025 edition ranked as the third-strongest competition in history with an Elo field strength of 719, behind only the 2022 Pratoni World Championships (730) and the 2024 Paris Olympics (720). That's the field Lordships Graffalo or ‘Walter’ to his friends conquered to secure his second Badminton title.
While the 2025 edition ranks among the strongest fields in history, Ros and Walter’s 2023 victory was against the fifth highest-rated Badminton field on record. With this victory they achieved the highest HPR recorded at Badminton (111) since records began in 2008.
Who Might Come to Challenge Ros Canter at Badminton?
Harry Meade has every reason to return. The British rider campaigned five horses at five-star level in 2025 and earned world number one points for his fourth and sixth place finishes at Badminton last year. With that kind of string depth, Meade has the ammunition to mount a serious challenge and he'll be gunning to defend those rankings.
Oliver Townend may come back to avenge his 2025 heartbreak. A single showjumping pole dropped him to second place and handed Canter the win. Townend holds the joint-most Badminton starts since 2008 with 20 appearances (tied with William Fox-Pitt), and while his string is smaller than usual, it's hard to imagine him sitting out an event this significant. Cooley Rosalent is likely his mount, and with a World Championship spot to secure through selection, Townend has plenty of motivation.
Tim Price has had a horse at Badminton every year since 2014, and fresh off his Pau five-star win with Jarillo in October, he's very likely to return with multiple rides again.
Caroline Powell, the 2023 Badminton winner, is another frequent starter with 16 appearances since 2008. After a breakthrough performance with High Time at Burghley 2025 (eighth place), she may look to better last year's Badminton result and prove that 2023 wasn't a one-off.
And then there's Cassie Sanger, the young American who was the best-placed first-timer at Burghley 2025 with Redfield Fyre. Based with Ros Canter in England, she is gaining experience at the biggest events while she's on this side of the Atlantic.
The names on the entry list may change, but the calibre never does. Badminton consistently draws the sport's best riders on their best horses and 2026 will be no different.
Whether Lordships Graffalo can make history depends not just on his own brilliance, but on how he measures up against what is shaping up to be one of the strongest fields ever assembled.
Only eight weeks to go.
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