Great news from FEI Land Rover Blair Castle International Horse Trials

High calibre entries have been flooding in for the Horse Trials, whilst the Organisers have just received confirmation of permission to increase visitor numbers, allowing for 12,000 spectators on both the Saturday and the Sunday.

Recently back from the Tokyo Olympics, team gold medal winners Oliver Townend and Tom McEwen bring seven and four rides respectively while travelling reserve and reigning World Champion, Ros Canter, has four horses running.

Also in the mix are the newly crowned British Open Champions, Izzy Taylor and Monkeying Around, Olympic reserve and longtime Blair supporter Nicola Wilson, France’s 2019 Blair CCI4*S winner Astier Nicolas (pictured), and even multi-medal winning three times Badminton champion, Blair legend and course designer of the 2015 Blair European Championships, Ian Stark.

The new ‘trial’ class, a CCI1*-Intro, has a huge entry list of 138 combinations, while the Scottish Grassroots Eventing Festival and standard BE100 and BE90 sections are also very well supported.

Not surprisingly, an extra day of cross country competition has been added to the schedule to accommodate the large number of eventing competitors.

Assistant Director Nicky Townshend commented: “We have been working hard to gain approval for an increase in spectator numbers for some time. To finally hear that this application has been approved is fantastic news and bodes well for a truly exciting weekend of sport which can be enjoyed by more people than we felt might be possible this time last week.”

Away from the various equestrian competitions, which also include showing and show jumping, visitors to the horse trials can enjoy excellent shopping opportunities, new catering options, and on Friday evening Persie Gin are offering their annual ticket only Charity Gin Tasting in support of the event’s official charity, The Sandpiper Trust.

Additional season and weekend tickets are now available, plus single day tickets for both Saturday and Sunday, with some availability for Thursday and Friday. There is no more capacity in either the campsite or the members marquee. Tickets can be purchased through the website.