History of horse trials at Blair Castle
Blair has run three-day events since 1989, beginning with a National (CCN) two-star, then adding an International (CCI) two-star in 1991. In 1998, the event ran both a CCI* and CCI** for the first time, and in 2003 moved up a level to run CCI*** alongside the existing CCI*. 2006 was another year of change, as the CCI** was reintroduced to run alongside the three- and one-star competitions, making Blair the only event in Britain to run CCI*, CCI** and CCI*** events concurrently. In 2009, the event took on yet another challenge, running two sections of CCI* due to huge entries and introducing a CIC*** as well – a very busy year indeed!
Blair Castle has a strong history of running European Championships, having hosted the FEI European Junior Championships in 1996, and the FEI European Young Rider Eventing Championships in both 2007 and 2011. Most recently, the event has hosted the senior FEI European Eventing Championship in 2015.
From 2016 we are proud host of the Event Rider Masters series, being the final of the 2018’s edition.
Blair is Scotland’s only three-star three-day event, and one of only 3 such events in Britain (the others being Blenheim and Bramham). Listed below are previous winners at Blair.
Roll of Honour
1989 |
CCN** | Frances Oakden on her own Jabba the Hutt | |
1990 |
CCN** | Ann Hardaway (USA) on Mr B Hardaway’s In the Red | |
1991 |
CCI** | Nigel Taylor on Mr J Iona-Smith’s Nick of Time | |
1992 |
CCI** | Blyth Tait (NZL) on his own Tempo | |
1993 |
CCI** | Rodney Powell on Mr & Mrs Boucher’s Comic Relief | |
1994 |
CCI** | David O’Connor (USA) on Mr J Zada’s Lightfoot | |
| CCN** | Cicely Thorne on her own Beluga | ||
1995 |
CCI** | Nicola Parnell (BER) on Mr E De Sousa’s Castle Blayney | |
1996 |
CCI** | Tiny Clapham on her own Sydney James | |
1997 |
CCI** | Louise Myles on Mrs A Andrew’s Just Jeeves | |
| CCN* | Lucinda Fredericks on Miss G McGrath’s Daliance | ||
1998 |
CCI** | Sally Swiers on Mr P Swiers’ Sessay Warrior | |
| CCI* | Kerrie Burge on her own and Mrs M Daykin’s Acrobat II | ||
1999 |
CCI** | Ruth Friend on Mrs A Lawson’s Matthew II | |
| CCI* | Craig Anderson on Lady Howick’s Softly Softly III | ||
2000 |
CCI** | Lucinda Fredericks on Mr S Kean’s Tina’s Gold | |
| CCI* | Steven James on Mr T Holliday’s Instioge Monarch | ||
2001 |
CCI** | Lucy Wiegersma on Mr & Mrs C Perkins’ River Vally | |
| CCI* | Lisa Maynard on Mr P Scott’s Sky Sport | ||
2002 |
CCI** | Lucy Wiegersma on Mrs S Hunt’s Friday Morning |  |
| CCI* | Heidi Simmons on her own The Biz |  |
|
2003 |
CCI*** | Ruth Friend on Mr & Mrs A Lawson & Vetsoft Systems’ Matthew II |  |
| CCI* | Vittoria Panizzon (ITA) on her own & Mrs L Panizzon’s King of the Castle II | ||
2004 |
CCI*** | Lucy Wiegersma on Mr M Lean and Mr H Wiegersma’s Shaabrak |  |
| CCI* | Hannah Bate on Ms K Williams’ Valdemar |  |
|
2005 |
CCI*** | Louise Skelton on her own Partly Pickled |  |
| CCI* | Ian Stark on Mrs C Thorne’s William Morris |  |
|
2006 |
CCI*** | Clea Phillipps on her own, Mrs J Barnard and Mr V Phillipps’ Lead The Way |  |
| CCI** | Matthew Prior on Mrs J Prior’s Political Trump |  |
|
| CCI* | Lucy Wiegersma on Mr & Mrs C Perkins’ Porloe Alvin |  |
|
2007 |
CCI*** | William Fox-Pitt on his own and Jane Kier’s Macchiato |  |
| CCI** | William Fox-Pitt on Catherine Butler’s Bee Animas |  |
|
| CCI* | Neil Spratt (NZL) on Catherine Witt’s Solo Voyage |  |
|
| EU-YR-CH | Individual: Sabrina Mertens (GER) on Divolo |  |
|
| EU-YR-CH | Team: Great Britain (Charlotte Agnew, Dani Cuomo, Emily Galbraith, Georgie Spence) |  |
|
2008 |
CCI*** | Duarte Seabra (POR) on Jorge Almeida Marecos’ Brave Heart |  |
| CCI** | Sarah Cohen on Angela Tucker, Fran Morgan and Miles Cohen’s Irish Jester |  |
|
| CCI* | Paul Sims on Roger Griffiths and Alex Calder’s Regal Rascal II |  |
|
2009 |
CCI*** | William Fox-Pitt on the Hon Mrs T Stopford-Sackville’s Cool Mountain |  |
| CIC*** | Nicola Wilson on Mrs R Search’s Opposition Buzz |  |
|
| CCI** | Matthew Wright on Mrs C Cole’s Hugginstown |  |
|
| CCI*A | Andrew Nicholson (NZL) on Mrs R Barlow’s Qwanza |  |
|
| CCI*B | Andrew Hoy (AUS) on his own Cheeky Calimbo |  |
|
2010 |
CCI*** | William Fox-Pitt on Mrs M Hall, Mr D Hall and Mrs J Skinner’s Neuf des Coeurs |  |
| CIC*** | Nicola Wilson on Miss R Search’s Opposition Buzz |  |
|
| CCI** | Matthew Wright on Mrs C Cole’s Hugginstown |  |
|
| CCI* | Emma Humphrey’s on Mr C Embrey’s Ushouldbsolucky |  |
|
2011 |
CCI*** | Andrew Nicholson (NZL) on 2012 In Mind Syndicate’s Calico Joe |  |
| CIC*** | Nicola Wilson on Miss R Search’s Bee Diplomatic |  |
|
| CCI** | Polly Stockton on her own and Mrs P Lochore’s Benromach |  |
|
| CCI* | William Fox-Pitt on his own Before Time |  |
|
| EU-YR-CH | Individual: Freya Fullgraebe (GER) on her own Oje Oje |  |
|
| EU-YR-CH | Team: Great Britain (Willa Newton, Tom McEwen, Wills Oakden, Dani Evans) |  |
|
2012 |
CCI*** | Emily Galbraith on her own Timing |  |
| CIC*** | Polly Stockton on Mrs J Tappin’s Jeepers Creepers |  |
|
| CCI** | Andrew Hoy (AUS) on Mrs C Classen’s Cheeky Calimbo |  |
|
| CCI* | Niklas Bschorer (GER) on his own Vilart |  |
|
2013 |
CCI*** | Tim Price (NZL) on The Wesko Syndicate’s Wesko |  |
| CIC*** | Lucinda Fredericks (AUS) on her own and Mr R Ames’ Flying Finish |  |
|
| CCI** | Lizzie Brown (NZL) on her own and Miss T Grant’s Henton Attorney General |  |
|
| CCI* | Ruth Edge on Mrs J Kearns’ Time Machine. |  |
|
2014 |
CCI*** | Astier Nicolas on his own Quickly Du Buget |  |
| CIC*** | Nicola Wilson on Mr & Mrs J Kemp and Mrs J Shewan’s One Two Many |  |
|
| CCI** | Mathew Wright on Mrs Charlotte Coal’s Hugginstown |  |
|
| CCI* | Emily Young-Jamieson on her own Gortmore Tommy |  |
|
2015 |
FEI European Championships | ||
| Gold: Michael Jung on the Jung Family’s Fischertakinou |  |
||
| Silver: Sandra Auffarth on the Dokr-Ger Olympic Committee for Riding’s Opgun Louvo | |||
| Bronze: Thibaut Vallette on Inst. Francais Du Cheval Et De L’Equitation’s Qing Du Briot | |||
| Team Gold: Germany (Michael Jung, Sandra Auffarth, Ingrid Klimke, Dirk Schrade) |  |
||
| Team Silver: Great Britain (Kitty King, Pippa Funnell, William Fox-Pitt, Izzy Taylor) | |||
| Team Bronze: France (Thibaut Vallette, Mathieu Lemoine, Thomas Carlile, Karim Florent Laghouag) | |||
2016 |
CCI*** | Nicola Wilson on Mary & Barry Tweedle’s Annie Clover |  |
| CIC*** | Flora Harris on Mrs C Harris and Ms R Salt’s Bayano |  |
|
| CIC***ERM | Oliver Townend on Mrs Sally-Anne Egginton’s Cillnabradden Evo |  |
|
| CCI** | Caroline Clark on her own Touch Too Much |  |
|
| CCI* | Jonelle Price on Mrs Tanya Buckingham – Lloyd’s Obos Impressive |  |
|
2017 |
CCI*** | Hazel Towers on her own Simply Smart |  |
| CIC*** | Harriet Wright on her own Ngong Hills (See article regarding the final results) |  |
|
| CIC***ERM | Shane Rose on his own Virgil |  |
|
| CCI** | Shane Rose on Mrs Kim Mercer and Mr Rodney Bennett’s Gurtera Cher |  |
|
| CCI* | Emily Parker on Mr D Mactaggart’s Highly Delighted |  |
|
2018 |
CCI*** | Tim Price on Mrs There Miller, Jo Preston-Hunt, Philip Hunt and Miss Kate Maitland’s Pats Jester |  |
| CIC*** | Oliver Townend on Haseldines & Mitchell Fox Group’s Tregilder |  |
|
| CIC***ERM | Chris Burton on The Graf Liberty Syndicate’s Graf Liberty |  |
|
| CCI** | Piggy French on Ms Jennifer Saunders’ Cooley Moonson |  |
|
| CCI* | James Avery on Mrs Lizzie Edwards’ Seaflower |  |
|
2019 |
CCI-L**** | Emilie Chandler on Ms Maria Doels’ Gortfadda Diamond | |
| CCI-S**** | Astier Nicolas on Mrs Marielle Grivots’ Babylon De Gamma | ||
| CCI-L*** | Eleanor Hope on Mr & Mrs Hopes’ Limestone Romeo | ||
| CCI-L** | Hayden Hankey on his own Cartown Galaxy | ||
2020 |
Horse Trials cancelled owing to Covid-19 pandemic and national public-health safety restrictions. | ||
2021 |
CCI-L**** | Rosie Fry on D.J. White-Hamilton’s True Blue Too II | |
| CCI-S**** | Rosalind Canter on Michele Saul’s Lordships Graffalo | ||
| CCI*** | Rosalind Canter on her own and Alex Moody’s Izilot Dhi | ||
| CCI** | Sarah Bullimore on Brett Bullimore and Seahorse Syndicate’s Evita AP | ||
| CCI* | Charlotte Cooke on her own Midnight Dancer II | ||
| CCI* | Katie Magee on her own Fairfield Mollymac | ||
2022 |
CCI-L**** | Tom McEwen on Martin Belsham’s Luna Mist | |
| CCI-S**** | Astier Nicolas on his own Babylon De Gamma | ||
| CCI*** | Tom McEwen on Alison Swinburn and John & Chloe Perry’s Brookfield Cavalier Cruise | ||
| CCI** | Wills Oakden on Stephanie Oakden’s Keep It Cooley | ||
| CCI* | Amelia England on her own Eluna | ||
| CCI* | Maia Fleming on her own Candyman Leanorth |