NANTWICH’S Hannah Bate breathed a huge sigh of relief when her Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials eventually came to an end.

The Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials is an event that Bate has not competed in since 2007, and she started the competition with a score of 51.5 in the dressage that left her in 23rd position.

She crept up the table on Saturday after successfully navigating Mark Phillips' tricky cross country course and went into Sunday’s final phase in 19th place.

Four faults in the show jumping was enough to secure 17th for her and horse Finbury Hill, with Bate adamant the result ranks among the best in her career.

“I'm very relieved to be finished and overall happy with how it all went,” she said.

“I'm very, very happy with it and I think he's jumped a very good round. The riders parade beforehand wound him up spectacularly but I think it's done him good.

“I think it's a massive disadvantage to parade and then jump, it didn't really affect him though and it's not why he had the rail down.

“He had the rail down because a lot are having that fence down and I don't think they can quite see it because it's a green fence.

“He really did hoof it out of the way but I don't think he touched anything else the whole way around.

“It is a Burghley under my belt and it's a place that I don't tend to aim for ever for various reasons but I can't wait to get back here now and I've done it and done it well.”

Bate was not the only Nantwich representative in action over the weekend with Paul Sims and 12-year-old Glengarnock also competing.

The pair made their first-ever four-star appearance earlier this season when they finished 28th at Badminton in May.

And they continued their 100 per cent completion record at the highest level by finishing in 24th place on their Burghley debut.

“Two four-star competitions and two four stars completed which is great,” said Sims, who shares a stable with Bate.

“I give myself high expectations but I would definitely have taken that at the start of the year.

“He’s not really bred for the job, he’s not really built to gallop but he plods on and keeps jumping.

“I think he is going to be a horse which just keeps coming here hopefully year after year and just gets round.”

The multi-award winning Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials (4-7th September) has been established as a major international equestrian and social event in the Autumn Sporting Calendar for over 50 years. For more information visit www.burghley-horse.co.uk