‘I was honoured to be asked’ says top British course-designer called up for Blenheim Europeans

Captain Mark Phillips has been named as the cross-country course-designer for Britain’s home eventing European Championships this autumn.

The Agria FEI Eventing European Championships will run at Blenheim from 18 to 21 September. Long-standing Blenheim course-designer David Evans – who built designer Derek di Grazia’s Tokyo Olympic cross-country course – will be one of the assistant designers.

H&H columnist Mark, a four-time Badminton winner and Olympic, world and European team gold medallist, designed Burghley for some 30 years, before Derek took on the tenure ahead of the cancelled 2021 event. He has designed courses across the world during his long career, including the 2018 World Equestrian Games in Tryon and the Festival of British Eventing for many years at Gatcombe.

“In recent times I’ve been cutting down on my course-design duties and have concentrated more on a course adviser role at many of the major events both in this country and the US to help with the development of the next generation of designers,” said Mark.

“I was honoured to be asked and am looking forward to designing this year’s Agria FEI Eventing European Championship cross-country course at Blenheim.

“I’m also very happy to continue my adviser role and help the FEI with their specific request to help younger designers. As such, they are flying Jay Hambly over from America and I’ve already had help from David Evans and Helen West with the initial plans.”

The last time Blenheim hosted the Europeans, in 2005, Zara Tindall – Mark’s daughter – won individual and team gold medals with Toytown.

The box office for spectator tickets opens today (6 January).

This is the third year that Stable Events has organised the horse trials and event director Kartina Midgley said that hosting the Europeans is “the cherry on top” of this milestone year.

“We’ve been dedicated to reviving this incredible event and 2025 is going to be a landmark year!” she said.

“It’s the 20th anniversary of Blenheim’s last hosting of the FEI Eventing European Championships – so many people have told me they were there in 2005. We’re going to make sure 2025 is an experience they’ll never forget either.”

Blenheim 2025: further updates

The regular CCI4*-L class will take a year off this year, while Blenheim hosts the Europeans. The CCI4*-S for eight- and nine-year-old horses will go ahead as normal.

H&H had previously reported that it was hoped Britain would be able to field eight individuals, rather than the usual two, as host nations previously did.

An FEI spokesperson told H&H in December that under FEI rules, at all championships and Games, the host country is limited to the same number of riders and horses as the maximum for foreign countries.

This means that if seven or more teams are entered – as is usually the case at Europeans – the maximum will be two individuals per country, in addition to the team.

If five or six teams are entered, it would be three individuals per country. If there are four or fewer teams, it would be four individuals per country.

“Any change to the rules would require an overall modification to be approved by the FEI General Assembly,” added the spokesperson.

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