Thoresby Park, which should have hosted Thoresby International earlier this year
awaits its first ever cross country riders
An Eventful Life will be filming all competitors on cross country at
Osberton International & Young Horse Championships - order or view videos here
What a year – event cancellations, no spectators, masks on riders and changes of venue. But the main thing is, we still have events!
Amazingly, as we draw towards the pointy end of this very unusual British Eventing season, the resumption of the sport’s fixtures has gone remarkably smoothly and we are now at the last big event of the year with the 2020 Osberton International at Thoresby and Young Event Horse Championships
At the end of this week we will know which two horses are crowned the 2020 British Eventing 6 and 7-Year-Old Champions, run at CCI2*-S and CCI3*-S levels, while the 5-Year-Old Championship will take place at Oasby (2) at the end of the month.
We will also have International class winners in the CCI2*-L and CCI3*-L and the first horse inspection took place for these classes at Thorseby Park on Wednesday. The Championships have relocated from their usual venue at Osberton, just a few miles up the road, which gives everyone a good preview of what is to come (and should have been earlier this year) at Thoresby International in April 2021
To find out more about Thorseby Park as a new British Eventing venue and replacement for Belton International on the eventing calendar, watch our interviews earlier this year with Stuart Buntine of BEDE Events here
But back to ‘Thorseberton’ where the background autumnal colours reflect the local Nottinghamshire forests where Robin Hood used to roam.
We were very excited, because it doesn’t take much to get us excited these days, about the theme of a masked Robin Hood for this first horse inspection however the “Beginners Guide to Robin Hood’ (yes, there is such a thing) tells us that he didn’t wear a mask.
If he had, it should have been this one worn by Sarah Holmes presenting Harley Brown for the CCI2*-L
Daisy Berkeley and NPS Devon
All horses have passed for the long format competition and the CCI2*-L competitors have started the dressage phase with Cliona Muir riding Sir Corselot currently leading on a score of 29, just a smidge ahead of Daisy Berkeley riding NPS Devon (29.4) and Tim Cheffings on Quanti Du Vi (30.1)
Daisy is back in this class tomorrow with the seven-year-old French bred Diese Du Figuier who could pull out a good score and others to watch will be the very cute little stallion Prometheus II ridden by Melissa Joannides and Wait For It ridden by Germany’s Anna Warnecke
Izzy Taylor riding Cooley On The Cards are first into the arena in the morning and another one to watch is Ireland’s Susie Berry riding Carolines Air KM, owned by Trevor Dickens, also the owner of Piggy March’s Badminton winning mare Vanir Kamira, just a few horses later
Izzy Taylor and Cooley On The Cards
The CCI3*-L is also underway with Holly Bradshaw and Sharaz leading the Section B (33.3) just ahead of Melissa Joannides on Patch Ali (33.4) and Douglas Crawford on Shadow Lad (34.4)
New Zealand’s James Avery is currently fourth on DHI Highlight (35.3) and there are two other Antipodeans in this class with Kiwi Ginny Thompson riding Stars Align, currently in ninth place and Australia’s Bella English riding Dowdstown Play Boy in 11th on 39.8
James and Ginny are back again tomorrow in the CCI3*-L Section B1 which also features last year’s British Eventing 6-Year-Old Champion, Shannondale Nadia, ridden by the World Champion, Ros Canter. Nicola Wilson’s Hawk Eye comes into this class on good form as does Susie Berry’s Monbeg By Design and the CCI3*-L Section B2, who do their dressage on Friday, is also packed with ones to watch
We'll be bringing you daily updates, photos and videos both on the website and through our social media channels so stay tuned to our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for video snippets and more …..
James Avery and DHI Highlight
