Replacement fixture to cover loss of Barbury International revealed

The canned Barbury International fixture has been reallocated to Aston-le-Walls by British Eventing (BE).

BE pulled the plug on Barbury owing to the organisation’s new restrictions that prevent venues that host international fixtures from also running unaffiliated events (see detail below).

Barbury’s 2023 affiliated fixture was set to run from 6 to 9 July at CCI4*-S and CCI3*-S, alongside national classes. Following the cancellation of the Wiltshire event, the fixture was put out to tender with BE organisers.

The BE fixtures committee has awarded it instead to Aston-le-Walls (7 to 9 July), Northants, subject to FEI approval. Aston-le-Walls hosts a range of equestrian activities throughout the year, including its affiliated fixtures, GO BE events, training, and unaffiliated two- and three-phase schooling days.

It will host CCI4*-S and CCI3*-S classes, national novice sections, plus a new one-star class that was previously held at Offchurch Bury.

Offchurch Bury is still scheduled to run its national BE classes on 1 July, as well as unaffiliated fixtures including its Cotswold Cup leg (25 to 26 March) in its 2023 calendar. Barbury will also continue to run its unaffiliated fixtures this year, including its Cotswold Cup qualifier (14 to 16 July), and is looking to replace the international with an alternative fixture.

“We are really looking forward to seeing international competition at Aston-le-Walls this summer,” said BE chief executive, Helen West.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Nigel Taylor and his team for their efforts in stepping up to deliver this fixture, which I am sure will provide three days of fabulous competition.

“There has been significant reinvestment back into the Aston site providing all-weather surfaces and guaranteed good going at a time of the year when ground conditions can be challenging. I am confident this will be well received by the competitors.”

Aston will also host a pony two-star in its spring fixture (10 to 14 May). This will be one of three international classes for ponies in Britain this year. The pony calendar features the British Pony Championships CCIP2* at Belsay International (1 to 4 June) and the pony CCI* at Blair Castle (24 to 27 August).

What happened to Barbury?

BE’s new affiliation agreement for 2023 prevents venues that host international fixtures from running unaffiliated eventing competitions during the year. They can still host riding club and Pony Club events, or “GO BE” fixtures – which fall under the BE umbrella, but results do not go on the official BE record and do not count towards competitors’ minimum eligibility requirements.

BE, which has experienced increasing competition from the unaffiliated market in recent years, cited “social licence” as its reasoning behind not allowing international venues to also host “unregulated competitions”.

“As the national governing body for eventing in the UK, BE is committed to delivering a consistently regulated, safe, clean sport. BE has no jurisdiction over unregulated competitions and cannot vouch for their compliance with FEI and BE requirements for sport, which have horse and rider welfare at their heart,” said the BE statement on 25 February.

Alec Lochore, of organisers Musketeer Event Management, told H&H at the time (news, 2 March) that he was “frustrated” and “sad” at BE’s decision not to allow Barbury to run an international.

“We have to question BE’s understanding of event viability challenges if organisers are not permitted to try and at least make the international event venues viable,” he said.

He explained that Musketeer started running the unaffiliated fixture at Barbury to make the affiliated one viable.

“Every venue is different in running their financial model, so in that respect, one size can’t fit all,” said Mr Lochore, adding that a constant would be that not many organisers can run the events just for the love of the sport.

Mr Lochore said that “BE should be commended” for how proactive they have been in developing safety over the last 20-plus years, but challenges the “insinuation in the BE statement that ‘unregulated’ events are less safe or less inclined to understand the responsibility of social licence”.

“In all events we run, we try to uphold high standards to reflect our responsibility to the industry, irrespective of under which auspices the events are run,” he said.

“It is very sad, and very important to stress that we are very fortunate that Barbury Castle Estates and [owner] Chris Woodhouse remain committed to international eventing at Barbury, so the gate is always open and I hope we will again be able to return international eventing to this fabulous location. In the meantime. we will run at least one if not a couple of fabulous unaffiliated eventing competitions.”

A spokesman for the Cotswold Cup told H&H last month that as “staunch eventing fans, we are as saddened as everyone else” to see the loss of Barbury International from the affiliated calendar.

“But we are thrilled that the team at Musketeer have given us the opportunity to continue to run at such an iconic venue,” she added.

“It was always our intention to raise the bar for unaffiliated eventing. We take safety incredibly seriously and we have very experienced and knowledgeable people working with us to achieve our goals.”

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