Bicton Arena is pleased to welcome members of the media to apply for accreditation to the Chedington Bicton Park 5* Horse Trials, 2-5 September 2021.
JB Promotions are managing and overseeing all press activity. Applications for media accreditation will be limited, if you have any queries please do not hesitate to get in touch with April Coate or Charlotte Goodby –[email protected].
Closing date for applications is Friday 13 August.
Terms & Conditions can be found here.
Bicton Arena in Devon is delighted and honoured to announce that it has received the go-ahead to host Britain’s only five-star horse trials this year, on September 2-5.
After an acclaimed first CCI4* in June, the Bicton team, led by Helen West and Andrew Fell, applied to the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) to run a replacement CCI5*L as a one-off to meet competitor and owner demand for a competition of this level after the unprecedented cancellations of both Badminton and Burghley due to the pandemic.
The Chedington Bicton Park 5* Horse Trials should prove a great boost to the sport after two difficult seasons and will be an opportunity to see the highest level of competition in this country for the first time in two years.
Bicton has again secured the generous sponsorship from Chedington, plus a prize fund of €125,000. The event will be live streamed by our supporting sponsor The Eventing Channel. The hugely experienced international course-designer Captain Mark Phillips will be creating a new cross-country track, built by Adrian Ditcham, in Bicton’s beautiful Grade l-listed parkland.
Bicton Arena’s new Manager, Andrew Fell, who will be taking over from Helen West said, “We are thrilled to have been given this opportunity by the FEI to ensure Britain has a five-star competition this year. It should be a great morale boost after so much disappointment. Bicton is the home of Lord & Lady Clinton who have been so supportive of the Sport and this will be an exciting time for Clinton Devon Estates.
“Bicton is already blessed with loyal supporters, great facilities and a stunning setting and we are now full steam ahead with our aim of producing a competition truly worthy of CCI5* status.”
Dr Geoffrey Guy of Chedington adds: “We have always felt that Bicton is a wonderful site that deserves to host a high level of international competition and are so pleased to be part of what will be a historic event.”
Helen West, Appointed Chief Executive for British Eventing and Advisor to Bicton Arena for the five-star event, comments “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Bicton and the South West, following the success of the four-star event we put on earlier this year we know that we are ideally placed to make this a huge success.
“For me, this is a shining example of what can be achieved with a collaborative approach. This whole vision was fuelled by owners, riders and organisers alike who have worked tirelessly to get this off the ground. The recognition of this achievement comes at an important time for me as I step into my new British Eventing role. It is fantastic for the Sport as a whole and I look forward to exciting times ahead.”
Limited numbers of spectator tickets will be available shortly.
Olympic selectors were given lots to think about — and plenty of good news — in the star-studded CCI4*-S at Bicton International Horse Trials, supported by Chedington, which featured more than 100 starters from 12 nations.
British riders longlisted for Tokyo filled the first five places after the final cross-country phase, with Tom McEwen heading a stellar leaderboard on the much-coveted jumper Toledo de Kerser, owned by Fred and Penny Barker, Jane Inns and Ali McEwen. Tom finished on his dressage score of 23.0, having finished bang on the optimum time of 7 minutes at the culmination of a superb all-round performance.
Kitty King put up a spirited challenge in second place on the striking grey Vendredi Biats, finishing two seconds inside the optimum cross-country time and a mere 0.1 off the winning score.
The world champions Ros Canter and Allstar B made it look easy in third, also remaining on their dressage score, of 24.6. Laura Collett’s run of brilliant form continued with fourth place on London 52 and the world number one Oliver Townend was fifth on his dual Kentucky winner, Cooley Master Class.
The stylish Australian horseman Christopher Burton, who is based at the Dorset yard of the sponsor, Chedington, was, appropriately, the best-placed non-British rider, sixth on the mare Quality Purdey.
There were 40 clear rounds, with nine inside the optimum time, and 66 completions from the 89 cross-country starters.
Tom, 30, who is based at Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire, has competed Toledo de Kerser, a 14-year-old Selle Francais gelding, at international level for seven years, winning team gold at the 2018 World Equestrian Games and the CCI5*-L at Pau, France, in 2019.
“I am thrilled to bits,” said Tom. “I’ve had several rides this weekend and to pull off such an important result on this horse is amazing really, and shows how special he is.”
“I was delighted with the cross-country. It was just what we needed at this point of the season — there was no hiding behind it — and the organisers had tried their utmost with the going.”
Kitty King joked: “Tom could have been gentlemanly and been a few seconds slower! But ‘Froggy’ [Vendredi Biats] felt brilliant; he has become so much more consistent in the dressage, which is exciting. I couldn’t be more proud.”
Ros Canter’s 16-year-old “Albie” is coming to form at exactly the right moment. “It’s been a long three years for him,” said Ros, a reference to the birth of her daughter in 2019 and then the pandemic. “At the start of the season, he was a little lethargic, but now he really wants to be here and not in the field.”
The Bicton team, led by Helen West, organised this sporting bonanza in just seven weeks, and thanks are due to the Horse Trials Support Group and Event Horse Owners Association, who both provided funding towards upgrading the cross-country, as well as Chedington, whose invaluable support made a CCI4* at this much-loved Devon fixture possible.
“Chedington is delighted for Nicola Wilson, Tom McEwen and Bubby Upton who showed excellence in all three phases to claim the three titles in our first partnered event with Bicton,” said Dr Geoffrey Guy of Chedington.
“Chedington Equestrian are passionate about creating opportunities for horses and riders to train and compete under the best conditions and, this weekend, Bicton has provided an absolutely world-class setting for a very important fixture for horses and riders. Chedington is delighted to have played a part in this and looks forward to working with Bicton in the future to continue to be able to offer the highest calibre of events in the UK.”
“What a fantastic competition we have had,” concluded Helen West. “It has been an absolute pleasure to host Bicton’s first 4-star. There have been some outstanding performances — huge congratulations to all the winners and thank you to all our sponsors, especially Chedington who has been instrumental in awarding our deserved winners an epic prize fund.”
Full results on www.eventingscores.co.uk and catch-up viewing on www.horseandcountry.tv.
The future looks bright for British eventing after a sparkling performance by the three young riders heading the CCI4*-L u25 at Bicton International Horse Trials, supported by Chedington.
Bubby Upton emerged the winner — and the national under-25 champion — on her cross-country runner-up Cannavaro, with Heidi Coy second on Russal Z and Yasmin Ingham third on Banzai du Loir, the least experienced of her three rides. The trio received many plaudits for their sympathetic horsemanship throughout the weekend and look set to be stars of future senior British teams.
Bubby, 22, had sealed her victory on her mother Rachel’s Dutch-bred, 14-year-old Cannavaro by the time she was last to go on her cross-country leader, Cola lll, who hit three fences to drop to fourth.
“I’m finally a British champion!” said Bubby, who is a former Junior European Champion and a much-medalled member of Britain’s youth teams. “Six times I have been in the lead for a national title, but never won it.
“Cannavaro is a class jumper and this shows he’s got a future. He has a heart of pure gold. Cola was just a little bit flat, but it’s his first mistake this year.”
Heidi Coy, 21, admitted that the journey back to her home in the Vale of Belvoir in Leicestershire would seem that little bit shorter after such a successful week, with three horses in the top 14.
“She’s only little, but she’s feisty and she answered every question,” Heidi said of David Ottewell’s nine-year-old grey mare, who showed early promise with 15th place in the prestigious Young Horse Championships at Le Lion d’Angers, France, in 2019.
Yasmin Ingham, 24, was full of praise for her youngster, Sue Davies and Janette Chinn’s Banzai du Loir: “For him to jump like that after the cross-country we had yesterday was fantastic. It shows he’s got a huge future.”
For full results, visit www.eventingscores.co.uk, and for a replay of the action, visit www.horseandcountry.tv
Nicola Wilson looks to have another star in the making with Jamie and Jo Lambert and Deirdre Johnston’s JL Dublin, a horse that shone in all three phases of the CCI4*-L at the Bicton International Horse Trials, supported by Chedington.
The pair led from the start, sealing victory in the best possible style with an immaculate clear show jumping round in which Nicola had no margin for error. Although Piggy March and Vanir Kamira, the second last to jump, went out of contention with an unlucky four rails down, the pressure was still on: Ros Canter and her rising star Lordships Graffalo, the runners-up, and Gemma Tattersall on Santiago Bay, third, had both already performed beautiful clear rounds to clinch the British one-two-three.
In fact, it was a British top 16, with France’s Arthur Duffort the best of the many overseas riders in 17th. Kirsty Chabert (nee Johnston) was fourth on Classic Vl, Laura Collett was fifth on Mr Bass and Sarah Bullimore finished sixth on Courouet.
Gemma Tattersall, the only rider to have two horses home inside the optimum cross-country time, was also seventh on Chilli Knight.
Nicola Wilson has won European and world team gold and an Olympic team silver medal on Opposition Buzz, plus European team gold and individual bronze in 2017 on Bulana, with whom she is longlisted for the Tokyo Olympic Games. She bought JL Dublin as a four-year-old at the Holsteiner sales in Germany; the pair have been placed at CCI4* level at Bramham in 2019 and at Burnham Market last year.
“JL Dublin normally gets very excited and squeals in the warm-up, but today he really had his brain in gear and I thought and hoped that this might be our day,” said Nicola, who was keen to heap praise on the organising team at Bicton Arena. “They have done an amazing job all round, from the cross-country course to the arenas and footing.”
For full results visit www.eventingscores.co.uk and for a catch-up of the showjumping phase action, visit www.horseandcountry.tv.
Miranda Collett, the lady behind eventing’s state-of-the-art live scoring programme, is the master of unflappable juggling. As well as Bicton, four other BE events are using her system this weekend plus nine Pony Club competitions, to whom she gives the service for free, and she was fielding questions from Scotland and Cheshire.
Miranda, who lives only 20 minutes away from the Bicton Arena in Devon, was formerly a database manager at the National Lottery Community Fund for 20 years, until taking redundancy eight years ago. She was already a BE scorer when she started work on www.eventingscores.co.uk.
“I wanted a system that would do what I wanted it to do, and it has gradually spread. Last year it became the national system,” she explained.
“I learned from other systems, such as BDWP, but I deliberately don’t do entries, although I work with multiple entry systems which are all uploaded onto the site, basically via an Excel spreadsheet.
“I enjoy the sport and I enjoy the intellectual challenge, but the real satisfaction is in working on something that is usable on the day — my target was to be able to do a 30-second explanation.”
Miranda gives credit to Ian Pearce, PA supplier at Bicton. “Nothing would have happened without him — he finds me wifi in all sorts of greenfield sites. And then there’s Harry Park and Nick Chubb [PA suppliers] — they have all embraced change.”
“The system is constantly evolving. I’ve got two young people listening in to scores, replacing the motorbike score-collectors of old. The riders are the easy part; eventers have always been web-literate.”
Bubby Upton paid an emotional tribute to her two horses after a superb cross-country performance in the CCI4*-L u25 at the Bicton International Horse Trials, supported by Chedington, saw her in first and second places.
The former Junior European champion leads on a score of 27.7 on Cola lll — the only horse inside the optimum time of 10 minutes 8 seconds — and is second on Cannavaro with 33.5, having added 5.2 time penalties.
The under-25 riders tackled Bicton’s challenging cross-country track with admirable gusto. Heidi Coy is now in third place on Russal Z and dressage leader Yasmin Ingham showed cool horsemanship, taking the relatively inexperienced Banzai du Loir steadily to clock up 8.4 time penalties for fourth place.
Yasmin and Heidi both had hectic afternoons with three horses apiece. Yasmin is also in seventh place with Night Line and 15th after a run-out with Rehy DJ; Heidi is 10th on Carrigsean Tigerseye and 14th with 20 penalties on Halenza.
Emily King is ninth on Valmy Biats after incurring a frustrating 11 penalties for knocking a frangible fence — but for that she would have been fifth.
“Cola is the horse of a lifetime,” said Bubby, 22, who juggles riding at weekends with studying for a sports management degree at Edinburgh University. ” I’ve had him since he was six and he keeps on pulling it out of the bag. Both horses dug so deep. They mean the world to me and when they try that hard, you love them to pieces.”
Tomorrow’s CCI4*-S cross-country finale could come down to mere seconds over the optimum time. With 0.4 penalties for every second over, the joint leaders after show jumping, Tom McEwen (Toledo de Kerser) and Ros Canter (Allstar B) have nothing in hand over Kitty King (Vendredi Biats), just one second over Japan’s Kazuma Tomoto (Vinci de la Vigne) and two over Oliver Townend, who is lying fifth on Cooley Masterclass.
There were also clear jumping rounds from New Zealand’s Jesse Campbell (Gambesie, sixth), China’s Alex Hua Tian (PSH Convivial, seventh) and Australia’s Kevin McNab (Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam, eighth) and Christopher Burton (Quality Purdey, 10th).
Dressage leaders Laura Collett and London 52 are now ninth with a rail down and dressage runner-up Alex Hua Tian with Don Geniro is 39th after an unfortunate three fences down.
The CCI4*-S cross-country starts at 10am tomorrow. Follow the action on Horse & Country (www.horseandcountry.tv) and with live scores and times on www.eventingscores.co.uk
Nicola Wilson produced a brilliant performance on JL Dublin — clear and inside the optimum time — to stay at the top of the CCI4*-L leaderboard after a thrilling cross-country phase at the Bicton International Horse Trials, supported by Chedington.
She was the first of six riders to achieve the optimum time of 10 minutes 8 seconds over what proved an influential track. “I am absolutely delighted with how he went — he just galloped and jumped,” she said of the 10-year-old Holsteiner owned by Mr and Mrs Lambert and Mrs Johnston. “Near the end of the course, I said ‘Come on,’ and on he went. He’s a super horse.”
Nicola was initially awarded 15 penalties for dislodging a flag at the downhill skinny fence at 24, but this was later rescinded. “It took me completely by surprise, as I did feel that he was straight.”
The scene is set for a nail-biting showjumping finale tomorrow as the price of one rail covers the top six horses. Piggy March is second with her 2019 Badminton winner Vanir Kamira and Ros Canter is third on Lordships Gruffalo.
Fourth to sixth places are filled by Gemma Tattersall (Santiago Bay), Kirsty Chabert (Classic Vl) and Laura Collett (Mr Bass), who only added 2.8 time penalties to her dressage score. Gemma is also in 10th place on Chilli Knight, the only rider to finish on a clean sheet with two horses.
There were 29 clear rounds, with errors well spread around the track. William Fox-Pitt, who has risen to eighth place on the mare Graffenacht, was among the leading riders to praise Helen West’s new 4* course. “I did think before I rode it, this is a really good course. It is the kind of track we have been crying out for [after a season interrupted by the pandemic]. I now know that I have a 5-star horse.”
Nicola echoed William’s sentiments: “When I saw the course, I couldn’t help but be excited; I couldn’t wait to get going. It was a treat to ride and the ground was perfect. I can’t praise the organisers enough.”
Tom McEwen, ninth on Dreamaway ll in the CCI4*-L, now holds a joint lead in the CCI4*-S. He showjumped clear on Toledo de Kerser, as did the world champions, Ros Canter and Allstar B. Both horses are longlisted for the Tokyo Olympics, as is third-placed Vendredi Biats with Kitty King.
Japan’s Kazuma Tomoto has risen to fourth place with a clear round on Vinci de la Vigne.
The CCI4*-S cross-country takes place tomorrow. Follow the action on Horse & Country (www.horseandcountry.tv) and with start times and live scoring on www.eventingscores.co.uk
Dr Geoffrey Guy, the man behind Bicton’s generous sponsor, Chedington, is probably better known in the racing world as a breeder, most notably of the reigning champion hurdler, Honeysuckle. Luckily for eventing, however, he has become involved in and enthused by this sport, enabling Bicton to upgrade to an international competition of this stature in just seven weeks.
“Bicton has long deserved a 4-star like this,” says the owner of Chedington, a beautifully appointed equestrian facility in Dorset. “We’ve got to know this place mainly through showjumping and we like it a lot. It’s only 35 miles away and we’re dedicated to rural enterprise, particularly in the West Country, so this seemed a great sponsorship opportunity. We see a natural partnership with our own facility for elite training.”
Australian Christopher Burton, the world number four in eventing, is the senior rider at Chedington and his wife, Rebekah, runs the centre. He is currently lying ninth in the CCI4*-S on Geoffrey and Kate Guy’s Clever Louis, a horse they hope will be on the Australian team at the Tokyo Olympics.
Dr Guy, a professor of medicine, first became involved in eventing through his daughters; one, Ellie, is now competing in show jumping and is based in Belgium. He designed the yard and facilities at Chedington Equestrian, breeds eventers as well as racehorses and is a shareholder in the Event Rider Masters series.
You won’t hear them — and few people will probably notice them — during cross-country day at the Bicton International Horse Trials, supported by Chedington, but they are the crucial linchpins of the action. This is the control team, headed by Roger Trivett and Carole King, sitting up in their eyrie-like unit high up on the course with the commentators.
There’s no time to look at the view, though. Their job is to keep track of the progress of each horse across country and to keep things moving —or to halt them if there is a broken fence or a fall — communicating by radio with fence judges, stewards, the ground jury, vets, doctors and the fence-repair team.
Roger Trivett does cross-country control for most West Country events, from Launceston in Cornwall to Gloucestershire, but in ‘real life’ he owns Acanthus Press in Wellington, Somerset, printing, among many other things, horse trials programmes.
“I was initially asked to help the scorers — someone knew I could at least count — and then I was asked if I would like to go into control,” he explains.” Lucy Coveney [another team member] and I were first on the BE mentoring scheme and then I set up a bit of an alliance with Carole and we’ve built up a team of about seven regulars. I’ve never ridden, but I used to play a lot of sport and I love being part of a sport.”
Carole’s day job is book-keeping, which is perhaps why she is renowned for being well organised. She started off in horse trials as a volunteer manning the phone in control at West Wilts and became part of former West Country controller Ian Pratley’s team. She has officiated at 5* level, as well as at Chatsworth, Blenheim and Millstreet in Ireland.
“It has taken me to places I never thought I’d go,” she says. “The important thing is that we all know each other well, we have each other’s backs and we trust each other.”