William Fox-Pitt, a member of the Great Britain Olympic bronze medal-winning eventing team in Hong Kong last month, is attempting a record a fifth win in the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials, which begin today in the grounds of Burghley House, near Stamford, Lincolnshire.

Such is the strength of Fox-Pitt's string that, despite losing the ride on Parkmore Ed, his Olympic horse and 2007 Burghley winner, he starts as favourite this week with Tamarillo and Ballincoola. “They're two cracking horses and it's a very comforting position to be in, but anything can happen,” Fox-Pitt, 39, said yesterday.

The 73-strong field includes two of his Britain team-mates, Daisy Dick with Hope Street and Mary King with Apache Sauce and Imperial Cavalier.

Zara Phillips, whose world champion horse, Toytown, missed the Olympics because of injury, competes on Glenbuck and Ardfield Magic Star, on which she was sixteenth and nineteenth respectively at Badminton in May.

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