Rutland rider Matthew Heath branded the Defender Burghley Horse Trials the ‘best show in the world’ after returning to his adopted home turf.

Heath, 40, moved to a new yard on the Rutland Water two years ago after 15 years at Aston-le-Walls Equestrian Centre in Northamptonshire.

Heath’s previous six appearances at the fabled 5* event have come onboard The Lion, but newcomer Askari made a composed start on his top-level debut, with a score of 32.1 placing him ninth after the first day of dressage.

“I’m really pleased with him,” said Heath. “He made a couple of very small mistakes but on the whole he did a really good job.

“It’s a big atmosphere here and a big occasion but on the whole he coped with it really, really well.”

Heath may not have always called Burghley home, but he now feels right at home in his new surroundings.

He says the honour of riding a horse at one of the most prestigious eventing competitions in the world will always rank among his greatest triumphs.

“It’s nice to have your local show as the best in the world, it’s pretty special,” he said.

“All the riders love to be here, the cross-country has always been so influential over the years. It’s just exciting.

“Badminton and Burghley are considered to be the biggest 5*’s in the world, and I think everybody sees Burghley as slightly tougher terrain wise and it means a lot to everyone that’s here.

“It’s a big deal to get here, to get a horse to this level you have to have a lot of horses, sometimes you get lucky and one comes along and you get the horse of a lifetime very quickly, but on the whole you have to wait a long time to come to shows like this.”

With the dressage completed for Heath and Askari, they can now look forward to Saturday’s cross-country and Heath admits he is relieved to have put the first phase behind him.

“It’s always quite daunting,” he added. “Especially for me the dressage phase is something I get quite anxious about so it’s always quite daunting for me to go into the arena and I’m sure lots of other riders feel the same way.”

Defender Burghley Horse Trials (31st August - 3 September 2023) has been a major international sporting and social event for over 50 years. It attracts the world’s top equestrians and over 170,000 visitors. For more information visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk