Monday, 14 October 2024
The Agria Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials (GBR) has been awarded the FEI Eventing European Championship for 2025. The event will take place from 18 to 21 September 2025.
The Oxfordshire venue, home of the Duke of Marlborough, previously ran the FEI Eventing European Championship in 2005. It is the first senior Eventing championship to be held in Great Britain since Blair Castle in 2015.
“It is a great honour to be bringing the FEI Eventing European Championship back to Britain,” said Event Organiser, Katrina Midgley of Stable Events, the organisers of Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials.
“Blenheim is such a fitting backdrop, with the Palace and the spectacular parkland cross country course, and we look forward to welcoming the teams and their supporters for a truly memorable occasion. Thanks must go to the teams at British Equestrian, FEI, British Eventing, Agria and UK Sport who have been instrumental in securing this exciting fixture.”
UK Sport’s Head of Major Events Esther Britten said, “Delivering major events like this continues to demonstrate the UK’s reputation as one of the world’s leading hosts, creating extraordinary sporting moments that reach, unite and inspire the nation.”
"We look forward to working collaboratively with the teams at Blenheim and the FEI on this exciting event which will showcase the best British athletes on home soil in a new location for us.”
It will be the 37th running of the bi-annual FEI Eventing European Championship, which started in 1953, the 12th occasion that Great Britain has been the host nation, and the 35th anniversary of the first international horse trials at Blenheim.
“Blenheim is long established as a popular and beautiful Eventing venue and we are very much looking forward to the FEI Eventing European Championship taking place there,” FEI Eventing Director Catrin Norinder said.
The FEI Eventing European Championship has come a long way since its first edition in Badminton (GBR) in 1953 where the hosts took individual gold and silver as well as team gold.
British athletes have dominated the discipline since then, accumulating a total of 20 gold medals in the individual category, more than all other nations combined, including two very high profile wins by members of the British Royal Family – The Princess Royal in 1971 and her daughter Zara Tindall née Phillips in 2005. The combination of Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany has won 27 individual medals (six golds).
In the team category, the British have also been in leading position, winning gold in 24 out of the 36 editions of this Event. France is the second nation with the most team titles, totalling 18, while Germany has achieved 17 team medals, six of which are gold.
At the most recent FEI Eventing European Championship, held in Le Pin au Haras (FRA) in 2023, Rosalind Canter (GBR) and her horse Lordships Graffalo, along with Team Great Britain, were crowned champions.
Next year will be Agria's first as title sponsor. “Could there be a more thrilling way to celebrate the third UK birthday of our game-changing lifetime equine insurance than by becoming Blenheim's title sponsor for the 2025 Agria FEI Eventing European Championships?” said Vicki Wentworth, Chief Executive of Agria UK. “Agria celebrates another birthday next year — the 135th since it was founded in Sweden — and we can’t wait to host the best riders in Europe — plus owners and horse fans from far and wide — to Blenheim on its 35th anniversary. It’s a brilliant event that always produces a memorable competition."