ANDREW Nicholson leads the star-studded entries for the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials 2018 which take place in May.

Entries closed this week with New Zealander Nicholson, champion of Badminton in 2017, back to defend his title.

And he will be riding his evergreen horse Nereo as the duo will again take on double Olympic champion Michael Jung, from Germany, and his mount La Biosthetique – Sam FBW, who have been second twice at Badminton and won the title themselves in 2016.

Great Britain’s leading challenger is Oliver Townend, another previous Mitsubishi Motors Trophy winner, with his Burghley champion, Ballaghmor Class.

Townend has three other horses to choose from as well.

Burghley runner-up Piggy French is back for another crack while three of the four members of the team that won the European gold medal in 2017 – Ros Canter, Gemma Tattersall and Tina Cook – will all be among the starters.

There are eight previous winners in the field although, surprisingly, both Pippa Funnell and William Fox-Pitt are on the Wait List of riders and horses standing by in case others drop out.

But with a slightly smaller total entry than in recent years, both Funnell and Fox-Pitt are very likely to get a run.

Paul Tapner and Sam Griffiths are back for Australia as well as equestrian legend Mark Todd, from New Zealand.

Todd is another double Olympic champion and will be looking to go better than last year when the quadruple Badminton title holder finished fourth.

Olympic bronze medallist Philip Dutton comes across the Atlantic to represent the USA while there are representatives of 13 overseas nations to take on the host country’s finest.

And, with the Tokyo Olympic Games only two years away, attention will undoubtedly focus on Yoshi Oiwa from Japan, while a change of nationality has come for Lissa Green, daughter of six-times champion Lucinda, and now riding for her father David’s native Australia.

Gates open at Badminton on Wednesday May 3 for the amateurs’ Mitsubishi Motors Cup.

The next day, the main international event begins with two days of dressage followed by Saturday’s challenging cross country course and finishing on Sunday with the showjumping competition.