Biography

British Olympian William Fox-Pitt (55) is one of the sport’s most successful riders. He first competed here 34-years ago (1989) and has 24 completions gaining another last year with Grafennacht his entry this year also. Later in the year the combination was 2^nd in the Elkton 5* in Maryland. He has won Badminton twice, in 2004 (Tamarillo) and again in 2015 with the stallion Chilli Morning – the first stallion to win the event.

William who is based in Dorset, has previously topped the World rankings three times (2002, 2009 & 2010) and been British number one seven times. He was a member of the British team at the 2014 WEG winning team silver and individual bronze with Chilli Morning with who he won European individual bronze (2013) and the pair represented GB at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games – his fifth Olympic Games. In 2012 he was a member of the British silver medal team at the London Olympics.

William has won seven team gold, two individual silvers and one individual bronze at European Championships. He has won two Olympic team silver (2004 & 2012) and team bronze (2008). His World Championship success includes, team bronze (2002), team silver (2006 & 2014) individual bronze (2014) and in 2010 at Lexington, team gold and individual silver.

He is also the three-time winner of the former HSBC Classics series – the accumulator series that tied Europe’s premier four-star events together. He is the only rider to have won Burghley on six occasions (1994, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2008 & 2011), and the only rider to have won five of the World’s six-four-star events (Badminton, Burghley, Luhmuhlen, Lexington & Pau) and is the winner of 64 international three-day events (CCI) – he gained his 64th this year at Houghton Hall with Little Fire.

William represented Britain at Junior and Young Rider European Championships winning his first medals (ind Junior silver in 1987 & YR team gold in 1988 & ‘99). He first completed Badminton aged 20 in 1989 but had to wait until 2004 to achieve his ambition of winning. After school he gained a languages degree from London University before setting up his own yard.

In October 2015 William sustained a serious head injury whilst competing in France and spent a week in an induced coma. He was back competing in April 2016 albeit with a reduced stable of horses and later that year, with Chilli Morning competed at the Rio Olympic Games – his fifth Olympic appearance.

His parents, Oliver and Marietta, rode at Badminton and Marietta was in the British Team in the 1960’s. William is married to Alice (nee Plunkett) a former four-star event rider and a current presenter on ITV racing. The couple has four children; two sons Oliver (18) and Thomas (16) and two daughters Chloe (11) and Emily (10). They are based in Dorset where William has created a modern training yard. William enjoys rearing chickens. He has written two books and is also vice-president for the Dorset RDA.

Grafennacht owned by Amanda Gould, is a 12-year-old British-bred Oldenburg registered mare. Bred by Susan Eggleton, she is an embryo transfer daughter of the leading sire Grafenstolz (also the sire of Badminton entries Lordships Graffalo, Graf Cavalier and Ellfield Voyager) out of the advanced eventing mare Nachtigall by the thoroughbred Narew. In 2019 with William she was 2^nd in the 7-year-old young horse 3* at Osberton and subsequently 4^th in the World 7-year-old championship at le Lions. She completed her first 5* at Badminton in 2023.