Located on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, close to beaches, wineries and popular resort towns, Boneo Park has built a top class reputation for hosting international level dressage and show jumping competitions in its few years of operation and planning is well underway to add eventing to its offerings
“We’re pretty busy with the dressage and show jumping side of things, not to mention showing and interschool events” says Fiona Selby, Managing Director at Boneo Park “But hosting eventing competitions and offering eventing training facilities is still very much on the agenda”
Over the past few years Boneo Park has set the standard in Victoria, Australia as the boutique venue for equestrian competition, hosting the Boneo Classic each January, with World Cup Jumping, CDI Dressage and Para Equestrian, and the Spring CDI in September as well as numerous smaller competitions throughout the year. The focus initially was on dressage, Fiona’s own choice of discipline as a Grand Prix rider, but show jumping now also features strongly with large outdoor arenas having been added in recent years.
The 120 acre equestrian venue, which sits on 850 acres of the McNaught family’s property at the tip of Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, also boasts an architect designed indoor arena with its own stabling area, 159 competition stables in separate barns, 120 outdoor horse yards and 120 powered parking bays.
While the rubber lined stables and fabulous footing on the indoor and outdoor arenas ensure that the equine stars enjoy their surroundings, the riders’ needs haven’t been forgotten with the popular Riders Retreat cafe providing top quality catering during events. It all adds up to the perfect facility for eventing but, as we all know, eventing is a demanding discipline for a venue to host
“Everything we do at Boneo Park is done to a high standard and driven by creating a quality environment” explains Fiona “So we want to ensure that this continues through anything we undertake on the eventing side of things. Cross country course designer Wayne Copping has been working with us in our planning and, although we certainly don’t have a set date in mind for the first event, we are actively working towards it”
“The tragic deaths in Australian eventing last year made us determined to ensure that everything we do in creating an eventing venue at Boneo Park is done to the highest safety standards. We’ve been waiting for the Equestrian Australia reports, which have recently been released, so that we can take into account any recommendations or safety requirements during our planning process”
The goal is to eventually hold 3* level competition at Boneo Park but there will be stepping stones on the way, starting with the lower levels and training facilities.
“Our aim is to hold top level international competition in eventing as we do in dressage and show jumping. It just takes a little longer to put it all together!”
From the initial indoor arena and attached stable block (above) extensive competition facilities have been added to the venue and hopefully soon a cross country course will be part of the venue
