Sarah Bullimore targets maiden Burghley title with Corimiro

Sarah Bullimore is hoping a horse she helped bring into the world can help her complete a Burghley fairytale as she targets a maiden victory at the prestigious five-star event.

Sarah Bullimore wants to live out a fairytale by riding the horse she helped birth to glory at Defender Burghley Horse Trials.

Bullimore heads to the 2026 event with high hopes alongside 10-year-old gelding Corimiro, who the 53-year-old knows better than anyone else.

Corimiro has been bred from birth by Bullimore and has quickly developed a reputation as one of the most exciting talents in three-day eventing.

The 10-year-old has particularly impressed over cross-country, which should stand him in good stead.

And Bullimore, who is based in Keysoe in Bedfordshire, hopes the pair may put it altogether over the long weekend in September as she eyes a maiden Burghley title 30 years on from her first time competing at the prestigious 5* event.

“He definitely is the best I’ve sat on,” she said. “I’ve had some lovely horses, but he just wants to get it right.

“He’s like an old soul, he’s kind of been there and done it, he’s picking up the flags almost before I am. Rather than me turning him to a fence, he seems invested in it too.

“He just loves his job. To be fair, we’ve not found a cross country course yet that hasn’t suited him. “He seems well adapted to whatever we throw at him. He just loves to run and jump, so I think this will be a great test for him, and hopefully he’ll eat up Burghley as well as he’s eaten up every other track.”

Bullimore finished fourth at Burghley in both 2018 and 2019 but is yet to reach the podium, something she hopes to put right in 2026.

The 53-year-old now has three decades of experience around the sprawling grounds of the Elizabethan house but admits the feeling of arriving never gets old.

She added: “It’s such an amazing venue, an amazing course, and it’s the one that all the riders want to come to and take that trophy away.

“I don’t know what it is about this place. It gives you such a lovely feel when you drive in.

“It’s always a really welcoming event, but you have the nerves — good nerves.

“Some events you drive in and it’s all a little bit daunting. I don’t know whether this almost has a slight end-of-term feel as well — the end of the event season, coming towards the end, and it’s the final pinnacle in the year that riders want to come and have a good run round and do well.

“It is just such a happy event to come to with a great atmosphere.”

Bullimore will be one of the most experienced riders in the field at the 2026 Defender Burghley Horse Trials, though she admits each new course always throws its own challenges and a rider can never get comfortable taking on each challenge, especially Burghley.

“You have a feel for riding more of the courses but actually, every time you come to an event, you still feel inexperienced, there’s still a little element of that.

“There’s no substitute for getting out there and having been and done it. There’s an awful lot you wouldn’t even realise, but subconsciously, you’ve been there, and when it happens, you feel it and you’re able to react to it quicker. It’s just knowing that age gives you that.”

Defender Burghley Horse Trials (3-6 September 2025) 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