THE FA Cup Final was no competition for the Badminton Horse Trials, which had its most popular year ever.

Saturday was the busiest day of the weekend, with the organisers estimating a crowd of 250,000 people, the usual number for the three-day event in total.

The trials' organisers were worried that spectators would be put off by predictions of traffic chaos caused by the cup final in Cardiff.

"We were worried about the clash with the cup final," said spokesman Julian Seaman. "All the papers said don't go near the M4.

"There was so much publicity about clashing with the FA Cup, but we had absolutely the best crowds ever."

Motoring organisations like the RAC and the police had warned of chaos on the roads as the nation went 'event crazy' for the bank holiday, with three million people taking to the roads.

Reports of anticipated gridlock mentioned both the cup final and Badminton, giving the event unprecedented coverage.

"The amount of people at the cup final is finite, but at Badminton Park we can take as many as come along, within reason," said Mr Seaman.

"We had absolutely massive crowds. I would reckon that we normally have a quarter of a million people over the three days this year we had a quarter of a million on the Saturday."

The trials are the third biggest sporting event in the world, behind the Indianapolis 500 motor race and its practise day.

Mr Seaman says the cancellation of last year's event due to foot and mouth made people more enthusiastic than ever this year.

He said good weather was also a factor, with the right mixture of rain, wind and sun making the going good for two legged and four-legged visitors alike.

Rain earlier last week alarmed the organisers, but by the weekend the ground was firm enough for visitors to browse the 300 trade stands in comfort.

The results of the competition were good news for fans of British eventing with an all British top three.

Pippa Funnel on Supreme Rock was the overall winner with William Fox-Pitt coming second and Leslie Law in third place.