BICTON PARK’S FIVE STAR – ENTRIES AND LIVE STREAM

With less than one month to go until all eyes are on Bicton Park, who will be your favourite horse and rider combination to take top honours at the UK’s only five-star eventing competition in 2021, the first to take place in two years?

Entries are open for the much-anticipated one-off fixture, the Chedington Bicton Park 5* Horse Trials taking place at Budleigh Salterton, Devon on 2-5 September.

Tickets for this special event will be on sale Tuesday 17^th August so keep an eye on Bicton’s social media channels and website for all the details.

For those who can’t make it in person, all the action will be available to watch live via a dedicated Elite Eventing channel on Horse & Country’s streaming service, H&C+. The trot up and first two days of dressage are free to view. The cross country, Sunday trot up and showjumping phases can be watched with a Weekend Pass, available for £25, or £20 for H&C+ members. All Weekend Pass holders will be able to watch all of the content on-demand for 90 days following the event. For more information visit www.horseandcountry.tv.

Elite Eventing TV is an innovative new concept that creates a direct link between the eventing audience and a tangible stream of financial investment in the sport of Eventing. Designed by the team behind the Event Rider Masters series, Elite Eventing TV is now taking that experience to create a dedicated Pay Per View (PPV) live streaming model. Revenues created from the sale of Live Stream PPV passes will be reinvested back into the sport via the ‘Elite Eventing Premium’, a brand-new additional prize money fund to be distributed between the Top 10 placed Bicton 5* competitors. For more information visit www.eliteeventing.tv.

Chris Stone, who owns Elite Eventing and has teamed up with H&C to enable the live-streaming of the event, added, “Elite Eventing has been created to make a direct link between the top riders and horses in this amazing sport, and the fans who appreciate the skill, bravery and passion they demonstrate. We try to give the fans great value for money with top quality presentation of our sport, and in turn we invest the money they spend back into the sport. We are thrilled to trial this model at Bicton and hope to expand it in the future.”

H&C CEO Heather Killen commented, “We’re delighted to be working alongside the teams at Bicton and Elite Eventing to bring this special event to the widest possible audience. With H&C+ we’ve been able to show more live eventing than has ever previously been possible and this, combined with our eventing focused masterclasses, rider profiles, documentaries and other programming, speaks to our commitment to this vibrant and passionate community.”

Bicton Arena Manager, Andrew Fell said, “We are extremely grateful to both Chedington and Elite Eventing for enabling us to put on a competition at five-star level for those riders, owners, and supporters who have endured the disappointment of not having an event of this level in the UK since 2019.”