Eventing in style at Osborne House
Top level riders have expressed their enthusiasm for a new event, the London Capital and Finance Osborne Horse Trials, set to run at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight this summer with confirmed dates of Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th July 2018. Thanks to corporate support, a prize fund of over £60,000 will be on offer, spread across just four classes with 20 horses per class – the winner of the Grand Prix taking home an enticing £10,000.
Kitty King, who visited the site last summer, commented: “It will be really exciting to showcase the sport that we love to a new audience. For spectators to have such great views of all the action, in such a historical setting, has to be good. And to be in with a chance of winning that sort of prize money at Intermediate level is phenomenal.”
The ground breaking format for this new horse trials has been designed to attract spectators unfamiliar with eventing, by means of an easy to follow format.
Horses will perform first dressage and then showjumping on the lawns of the stunning palazzo-style house, designed by Prince Albert himself, before setting out across the Osborne estate parkland. Each phase will finish before the next commences. The cross country track will run in front of the house with its sweeping vista down to Osborne Bay and the Solent, enabling spectators to see 70% of the action without moving from one spot.
London Capital & Finance Osborne Horse Trials will run under the BEDE Events banner. Both days will feature two classes, the action all done and dusted between a very civilised 10am and 3.30pm. Fences will be at Intermediate height, with a Grand Prix class and three further categories tailored to either top level or less experienced horses. Leading riders will be invited to bring two horses, competing one per day, although entry is open to all appropriately qualified horse and rider combinations.
Andrew Thomson, Director of London Capital & Finance, title sponsor of the inaugural event, is enthusiastic about the opportunities available to investors. “Horse trials sponsorship is an exciting new venture for us. English Heritage has generously offered access to private parts of the house for corporate entertainment which provides us with a unique setting to host our clients and develop business relationships in a way not normally possible. It should be a spectacular two days of top class sport.”
British Eventing Chief Executive David Holmes added: “BEDE Events is so often at the forefront of developing our sport, and this event will be no exception. It will be a wonderful opportunity to take eventing to a new audience.”
Work building the cross country course starts in earnest next month.
