Scone Horse Trials at Ellerston cross country videos
The first FEI event to be held at Scone Horse Trials at Ellerston is definitely a hot ticket as far as the riders are concerned with a massive influx of entries as soon as entries opened and the organisers saying, ‘You guys blew us up faster than Taylor Swift concert tickets sell out!’.
That however is a good problem to have and one that Event President Blair Richardson happily handled, even if it meant him building over 70 additional portable yards to ensure that everyone could be accommodated.
This year Scone holds a new spot on the calendar; its inaugural event in 2024 ran in April, just before the Adelaide Equestrian Festival but this year will run on 1st & 2nd November and is making the move up to FEI level with CCI2*-S, CCI3*-S and CCI4*-S classes, plus a CCN1*-S as well as hosting an EvA95 for the first time.
Scone is known as the ‘Horse Capital of Australia’ and some big names in the thoroughbred world are lining up to sponsor classes with the Godolphin Lifetime Care CCI4*-S, Archibald Racing CCI3*-S, Magic Millions CCI2*-S, Yulong CCN1* A, Michael Freedman Racing CCN1* B, Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Racing EVA 95B, Yarraman Park EVA 95A and Platinum Horse Transport EvA95 Junior.
And of course everyone wants to ride at the prestigious private polo property of Ellerston, which immediately came a ‘must-visit’ event after reports filtered back about the beautiful venue and great facilities last year.
It’s not surprising therefore that the entry list is full to bursting across the levels, including a massive 29 entries in the Godolphin Lifetime Care CCI4*-S. This class will start on Friday with one hour’s dressage in the afternoon; Hazel Shannon and her four-time Adelaide 5* winner Willingapark Clifford (one of eight off the track thoroughbreds in the class) will be the first cab off the rank and Hazel returns on Saturday with last year’s CCN3* winner Willingapark Chelsea.
Another Adelaide winner, Shane Rose is competing with Holy Moses as well as Olympic and World Championship combination Shenae Lowings riding Bold Venture and the in-form Catie Herbert and her black stallion Wimborne Constable.
There are also interstate visitors from Queensland and Victoria in Andrew Cooper riding Sharvalley Thunder and Ocean Eight, Queensland 3 Day Event 4* winner Gemma O’Leary riding Arnage Porsche and Sophia Hill, hot-footing it from the CCI5* at Maryland (USA) to Scone via Melbourne, competing here with Tulara Baltango.
All dressage this year will take place on the School Field, next to the central hub of the Ellerston Brekky Room café and the showjumping is also close by on the North Field. A change in time of year has also meant that the polo fields can be used more fully for cross country, so we can’t wait to see what course designer Stuart Tinney has lined up.
Apart from the one hour of dressage for the 4* competitors on Friday, all other dressage takes place on Saturday, with the 4* and 3* competitors also showjumping on Saturday afternoon and all competitors head out on cross country for the big finale on Sunday.
An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on cross country at Scone Horse Trials at Ellerston – order or view your full cross country video here.
An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on cross country at Scone Horse Trials at Ellerston – order or view your full cross country video here.
