Eight Australian riders competing in Barbury

Eight Australian riders will compete at the St James’ Palace Barbury Horse Trials across the weekend in the UK.

The event will play host to the third leg of the Event Rider Masters Series (CIC3*) in which Australia’s Bill Levett is currently ranked tenth overall behind UK rider Sarah Cohen (51 points) on 22 points.

Levett will compete with two horses in the CIC3* at Barbury Castle – Lassban Diamond Lift and Shannondale Titan.

This weekend will hold particular importance for Rio Bronze medallist Shane Rose who will be campaigning his Olympic mount CP Qualified for the first time since last September.

The 14YO grey WB Holsteiner, owned by Felicity Wischer, has not appeared at an event since Blenheim last year. Rose will saddle CP Qualified in the CIC3* and is currently ranked 25th(12 points) in the ERM series.

His Rio Olympics teammate Chris Burton will ride Lawton Boy and Limited Edition VI in the CIC2* this weekend.

Full list of AUS riders:

Birch, Sammi	The Court Jester	CIC3*
Burrell, Catherine	Duke	CIC3*
Levett, Bill	Lassban Diamond Lift	CIC3*
Levett, Bill	Shannondale Titan	CIC3*
Rose, Shane	CP Qualified	CIC3*
Birch, Sammi	D	CIC2*
Burrell, Catherine	Briska Sow	CIC2*
Burrell, Catherine	Milan	CIC2*
Burton, Chris	Lawtown Boy	CIC2*
Burton, Chris	Limited Edition VI	CIC2*
Levett, Bill	Drakkar	CIC2*
Levett, Bill	Piltown Colours	CIC2*
McNab, Kevin	Brookfield Quality	CIC2*
McNab, Kevin	Brookfield Inocent	CIC2*
McNab, Kevin	Clifton Spyder	CIC2*
McNab, Kevin	Willunga	CIC2*
Rose, Shane	Paulank Kings River	CIC2*
Rose, Shane	Sea Summer Bay	CIC2*
Seaton, Samantha	Rowbury Spree	CIC2*
Way, Stephen	Da Vinci Beekhoeve	CIC2*

Popular amongst the world’s top event riders, Barbury Castle is a picturesque venue in the heart of horse racing country.

The Estate is home to National Hunt trainer Alan King and it sits in an area of outstanding natural beauty. Almost every one of the Mark Phillips' designed cross country fences are visible from the central arena complex and the excitement of the Event Rider Masters format makes this a great sporting occasion.

In 2016 Andrew Nicholson scored a record fifth consecutive victory at the Wiltshire venue and he will be hard to beat again in 2017.