Monday News & Notes from FutureTrack

Saying goodbye is hard to do, and even harder when you know it’s the final time. Scotland’s emblematic event, the Defender Blair Castle International, is no more following its culmination yesterday, as the estate will now be used for regenerative farming, and Scotland’s premier event will be a new fixture at Scone Palace from next summer. But what a thrill for the final hurrah to end up with a win for Wills Oakden, who is one of Scotland’s few top-level professionals, and who has now won the 2*, 3*, and 4* in consecutive years on the same horse, Keep It Cooley. A fitting farewell to a wonderful event — and a big thank you to the team of organisers and volunteers who’ve made this such a special part of the eventing world for so long.

US Weekend Action:

Bouckaert Equestrian H.T. International (Fairburn, GA): [Website] [Results]

Shepherd Ranch Pony Club H.T. II (Santa Ynez, CA): [Website] [Results]

Town Hill Farm H.T. (Lakeville, CT): [Website[Results]

UK International Results:

Blair Castle International (Perthshire, Scotland): [Website] [Results]

European International Round-Up:

FEI Junior and Young Rider European Championships (Strzegom, Poland): [Results]

Lisgarvan House International (County Carlow, Ireland): [Website] [Results]

Your Monday Reading List:

That win for Wills Oakden at Blair couldn’t have been a more fitting finale. Horse & Hound caught up with him to find out more about the exciting nine-year-old Keep It Cooley and unpack his thoughts on what comes next following the sad loss of this much-loved event.

This is an interesting investigative piece on Alicia Dickinson, who has been alleged to be — though denies being — the whistleblower in the Charlotte Dujardin scandal. Just to be very clear here, I don’t subscribe to the notion that a dodgy alleged whistleblower means that the severity of the scandal itself is diminished — I think if there’s something to whistleblow, that’s a big problem in its own right and the focus on it shouldn’t be sidetracked. But the separate story that’s now unfolding about the seemingly dodgy business practices around Dickinson is interesting and worth following through — if only to bring more awareness to some of the less savoury consumer models that exist in our largely unregulated industry.

What is your understanding of ‘good hands’? If it’s perfectly still, totally quiet hands, then you might be missing a crucial piece of the puzzle. This piece on COTH makes for great reading and will help you level up your rides this week.

Morning Viewing: 

Catch up on all the Young Rider cross-country action from the European Championships here.

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