Harry Meade is on course for back-to-back podium finishes at the most revered eventing test in the world after cruising round the fiendish four-mile cross-country track.

West Littleton-based Meade, 41, came third last year aboard Cavalier Crystal – who currently sits fifth ahead of the final day – while fellow more Annaghmore Valoner sits in third, just 5.8 marks off leader and Olympic champion Ros Canter.

Meade was the only rider in the field with three entrants but saw all three past the finish line, with Superstition in 15th place, capping an excellent day which saw several rivals falter including 2023 champion Oliver Townend.

“I was thrilled with my three rounds,” he said.

“I had a plan at the beginning of the day for each horse. I was quite happy going out first and I would have been quite happy going second and third and being on the three horses without seeing anyone else.

“They all went as planned and they’re all different horses, I tried to ride each one with a bit of sympathy and time, it’s not a sprint round here.”

Meade set the tone for the day as the first rider in action, piloting Superstition to the final day of Burghley in what is the gelding’s first 5* event in nearly three years.

The more experienced Cavalier Crystal also passed the Stamford test with flying colours before Annaghmore Valoner sailed home to leave Meade within touching distance of a first top-level success.

“It's a real team effort. I’m hopeless at a lot of things but one thing we can do is produce confident and happy 5* horses from young,” he said.

“It’s not how you produce them in a month leading up to it, it’s about 10 to 15 years. It’s not a process everyone buys into, I believe it’s about giving them that long-term slow confidence so when you get to somewhere like this, they’re bullet-proof.

“I just enjoy doing this. If there was no crowd and no competition, I’d love to come out on my own and have a crack at a course like this. It’s what I do, it’s what we as a team do and to get three bites at the cherry is even more fun. I’ll miss not being at these events one day.”

It was also a good day for Chippenham-based rider, Libby Seed 27, who proved that sometimes partnership triumphs experience as she survived the infamous cross-country course on her Burghley debut

“I’m over the moon,” said Seed.

“I am just so delighted with her [Heartbreaker Star Quality]. She’s a pet, she would honestly just happily sit on the sofa with you, so to have a horse that is so nice and will fight like that for you out there, it’s so special.”

Defender Burghley Horse Trials (5-8 September 2024) has been a major international sporting and social event for over 50 years. It attracts the world's top equestrians and is attended by vast and enthusiastic crowds. For more information visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk