What a difference to when I wrote my last blog, the sun has shone and the wind has blown and the Park is now looking ready to greet all its visitors next week.
Eric Winter’s cross-country course is in place with just the finishing touches to be made. Last week the course was filmed for Cross-Country app and I am very grateful to Mark Todd for coming to walk the course with Eric and give his expert opinion. It is well worth watching and can be accessed via the app which is viewable on our website or on Cross-Country app which is downloadable on iPhone or Android. It was also very good to see Nicola Wilson here, who walked the course on behalf of the Horse & Hound.
We had a great pre-view evening a couple of weeks ago, which set the scene for the celebration of 75 years of the Horse Trials. I urge you to visit the pop-up museum, kindly sponsored by Danco plc, who are our long term tentage contractor. The museum is sited in the trade stand area (not far from the scoreboard). The museum will take visitors along a journey, via photos and artefacts, which will cover the years.
As mentioned last month, we are very grateful to INEOS Grenadier for joining us as the Official Vehicle sponsor. The vehicles will be on show and will be available to test drive in an area close to the trade stands.
With LeMieux now supplying the official Badminton Equestrian Collection and Joules the Badminton Collection of Clothing, there is something for everyone and both their trade stands will be well worth a visit during the Event.
Many congratulations to Kentucky for a great event and how exciting it will be to see if Oliver Townend can complete the third leg of the Rolex Grand Slam at Badminton!
We also have a strong entry for the Voltaire Design Grassroots Championships, whom we welcome to Badminton and wish them a happy and successful time.
Please remember any tickets have to be purchased in advance and admission will not be available at the gates. On the Saturday (Cross-Country day) I would urge everyone to come along early, in order to enjoy the day to the full!
Let’s hope the weather is kind and the sun shines next week so we can all do the 75th anniversary justice!
I look forward to you joining us.