Blair beats Hurricane Bill, Freddy gets Ribbons, and Friday wins the Open Hunter on Thursday..
Another amazing event at Blair, with action all the way and a tremendous finish in all classes.
However on Thursday evening and especially on Friday morning that looked far from the case, and the decision to continue was made in the face of some pretty grim conditions, but more of that in a moment.
NBR had four horses who made the trip.
Freddy Curtis and Trig Point headed for the CCI* , which had been split into different sections, and Night Porter and My Man Friday were entered in the Working Hunter classes on Thursday.
There had been considerable debate as to whether the horses would run in the one or the two star. As it turned out given the conditions, the cautious choice of the One Star proved absolutely correct.
Hurricane Bill
The organisers faced an unenviable challenge as hurricane Bill made its appearance, and it was really touch and go as to whether the event was able to proceed.
However torrential rain came through on Thursday night with the accompanying high winds blowing tents away, as Hurricane Bill made its presence felt.
The decision to proceed was very brave at the time, but as it turned out proved totally the right one as the drying wind helped a huge amount and there was a considerable amount of sunshine.
There were a considerable amount of trade stands, which seemed reasonably busy, although the sponsors area was smaller.
The idea of putting an owners car park beside the lorry park, worked very well and the expansion of the lorry area proved a godsend given the poor conditions underfoot
Last year Owners with the red armbands did have access to the members tent, but for some reason this wasn’t the same this year, although there was access to a general catering tent at the top. Now a four day members pass does bring access to the members enclosure, forward parking, cctv etc etc .. and although limited are available for £60.
Looking at the entry cost for two horses including stabling -- £998.00 . The car parking for owners is an undoubted improvement, but I still feel more can be done for owners as the new management of the Blair event gets into its stride
The picture below indicates just how muddy things became..
I made the trip up to Blair on Thursday, and had time to catch the working Hunter classes before heading off to the Killiecrankie Hotel, where I was to be based for three days (highly recommended and already booked in for next year.. now we just need the horses)..
Friday wins on a Thursday
Night Porter had already come fourth in his class, and My Man Friday delivered a spectacular clear round to win the Open Working Hunter ahead of a quality field, being moved up after he was called in. He then was awarded Reserve Champion, behind the winner of the last three years. A great result for the Milne’s and Nicky.
It was particularly dark by the time they finished and was raining heavily so apologies for the quality of the picture..
Freddy and Jerry
Freddy had already done his Dressage on Wednesday evening and by the close of Thursday was lying eighth.
He was supposed to have been doing cross country on the Friday but that was delayed to give the ground a chance to recover, another excellent decision by the organisers
That meant he had to do his showjumping on the Saturday and then finish with the Cross Country and the trot up on the Sunday.
Trig Point faced a tricky dressage on Friday. Half the class had competed on the Thursday which left the arena fairly chewed up, and although rolling was attempted, all it did was to take up even more ground, so the arena had to be left as it was. This certainly didn’t help the friday group, although it didn’t stop the winner of the class Andrew Hoy delivering a very good test.
Trig Point was more engaged than he has been recently and his 49.9 left him in 15th, but this was a better feel to the test than at Burgie.
Saturday.. Trig point then went excellently cross country with the obstacles proving no problem, and was well inside the time. That wasn’t sufficient to see any change in position as the time proved relatively easy to get, at least for those at the top of the field. His approach to the water looks more measured than that of Freddy below..
Meanwhile in the showjumping arena Freddy was faced with a very large open course, his least favoured type.
Nicky very sensibly took him round as though it was a showjumping jump off with very tight turns and he was extremely unlucky to flip off the last element of the treble after a very good round, and there were literally a handful that went clear.
Sunday..
Trig Point then had his turn showjumping over what looked a slightly easier course. Frustratingly he took down the first elements of both combinations, something he has been doing earlier in the season, marring what otherwise was a good round. That dropped him from a potential eleventh to 20th. Extra work in this particular area is now slated for the autumn, ahead of the final few events of the season.
Freddy was the last to go on the Cross country course, and again this wasn’t an ideal track for him , with heavy ground and a large hill.
He certainly found the drag up the hill tiring, and after a heart stopping moment at the first water regained his composure as he came back down the hill
He did pick up some time faults, but his score was good enough to put him into 10th Place, his best three day result.
He needed to have a final trot up before his position was confirmed and the setting for that remains outstanding..
In terms of points Freddy came back with 2 and Trig Point 1, narrowing the gap between the two.
Freddy is now on 18 for the year and Trig Point 21, with their respective totals being 35 , and 47 ..and getting the Yard total to 71
Freddy also made it into the Prize money with a cheque to follow.
Round up..
All classes were tightly contested and after the variable surface for dressage (unavoidable given the conditions), the showjumping and cross country made a stern but realistic test.
All the cross country hedges had 2 inches taken off them before the competition began, regardless of class, but that didn’t prevent a few problems appearing.
Ronald Alexander’s times also made interesting challenges. The one star was clearly achievable, the two star was just about possible (four ) , and both the three star CCI and CIC had noone inside the time. Problems were spread right round the course rather than being restricted to one or two fences giving a tremendous competition. It was possible if one ran hard enough to see all the fences on the CCI* bar three. However as this necessitated severe hill work there was a limit to how many times this could be done.
The round by Opposition Buzz to win the CIC*** was electric and the final six or seven fences after a fantastic second water showed why this horse had been selected to represent Britain and follows a very string showing at Gatcombe. The showjumping also produced a fitting climax to all the competitions, with William Fox-Pitt and Matthew Wright producing copybook rounds to win the 3* and 2* respectively..
A great performance by the competitors, organisers and volunteers in the face of very testing conditions at times,..
Am booked in already for next year…
Next up for NBR
Burghley Young Event Horse, Hutton, Gatcombe and Aske
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