Childeric Saddles Little Downham International (28-29th September) confirms that all 3-phases for the CCI3* and CCI4* classes will run on a single day, creating a true one-day international.
The Cambridgeshire event has taken on the additional costs required to product multiple small sections of international competition to enable all 3-phases of competition to run on a single day. The CCI3* is due to take place on Saturday 28th, a replacement for the class lost from the South of England schedule. The CCI4*, which to date has set riders up for wins at both Pau and Maryland 5*, will have all 3-phases run on Sunday 29th September.
Organiser Tina Ure commented: “We appreciate that many events run their international classes over multiple days, which in turn adds significant costs to competitors with stabling and either losing out of work or the requirement to pay additional staff. We’re therefore committed to running all phases on the same day to provide a cost-effective international offering to competitors. There is no requirement to stable on-site for either international class, which we hope will help make these classes a more attractive offering than the costly exercise of travelling abroad to compete.”
The Little Downham CC4* track has played a pivotal role in the preparation for many Autumn 5* winners. Laura Collett and London 52 were inaugural winners in 2020, before starting their run of 5* victories at Pau a month later. Maryland 5* winners under Tim Price and Austin O’Connor have also used Little Downham’s end of season fixture to prepare for their US victories.
2020 winner Piggy March, who went on to finish 2nd at Pau CCI5* with Brookfield Quality, saw the Jonathan Clissold designed track as a positive new addition: “This track, I think, is brilliant – you really have to get stuck in. It’s very educational for them but you’ve got to make it happen. There’s lots of questions out there and it’s beefy enough.”
Laura Collett, a regular visitor to Little Downham, too, was full of praise for the track, which gave competitors a chance to tackle questions of a similar technicality and feel to Pau’s CCI5*: “I was really glad that it had a real Pau-type feel with skinnies on mounds and blind turns and really committed distances. It was so nice to get stuck in and have nice rides around. It made you think as a rider, and they did a phenomenal job to put it on and build such a cracking course.”
Ballot day is Tuesday 3rd September – a crucial day for events, where entry numbers will dictate their final plans for event timetables, staffing and preparations.
Find out more about the event, and enter, here
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