It’s official. William Fox-Pitt has retired.
The British Olympian, 55, made the news official at Mars Badminton Horse Trials last Sunday. And he ended his career the way he started it—as a contender.
Fox-Pitt, second going into the final phase, had a chance of becoming Badminton’s second-oldest winner. But six fences down on Grafennacht dropped him to 13th place as a Badminton history that began 35 years ago reached its inevitable conclusion.
“This is my last Badminton. It has been a great week, I have really loved it, and it has been a great send-off,” said Fox-Pitt.
“There are no kind of tears and sobbing. I am very matter of fact about it, and I think it’s the right thing.”
While Fox-Pitt’s competitive career has come to a close, his eventing legacy will long live on. Because when it comes to hardware, there aren’t many medals or accolades missing from his considerable collection.
Let’s review the highlights:
Fox-Pitt was the first British rider to achieve World No. 1 status in eventing. It’s a feat he achieved in 2002 and repeated in 2009, 2010 and again in 2014.
He won 14 CCI5* titles. He is also the only rider to have won five of the seven events in the world.
Fox-Pitt holds the record for most wins (six) at Burghley (1994, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2011)—and on six different horses. He’s a two-time winner at Badminton (2004 & 2015) and Pau (2011, 2013) and three-time Kentucky champion (2010, 2012, 2014). He won Luhmuhlen (2008). The only two 5*s he didn’t win are the Adelaide Equestrian Festival (AUS) and Maryland Five Star (USA).
Fox Pitt is a five-time Olympian. He contested the 1996 Atlanta, 2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London and 2016 Rio Games, winning two team silvers (Athens & London) and one team bronze (Beijing). His best individual finishes were 12th in 2008 and 2016, the last less than 10 months after suffering a traumatic brain injury that left him in a coma for two weeks.
He has a complete set of World Equestrian Games medals. In four appearances, Fox-Pitt never finished off the team podium, earning bronze in 2002, silver in 2006, gold in 2010, and silver in 2014 with the British team. He also holds two individual medals from WEG, a silver in 2010 and a bronze in 2014.
He twice contested the World Cup Final (2005 and 2008) and finished just off the podium in fourth in 2005 with Ballin Coola. It’s the only major championship in which he doesn’t hold a medal.
He also has a complete set of European championship medals. And it’s his biggest collection of all. In nine appearances since 1995, Fox-Pitt won 11 medals, including six team golds (1995, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009). He also laid claim to three individual medals, earning silver medals with Cosmopolitan II in 1997 and Tamarillo in 2005 and bronze in 2013 on Chilli Morning.
For 30+ years, Fox-Pitt has been a name synonymous with international eventing. And will continue to inspire generations for decades to come.