BEDE Event Director, Stuart Buntine offers a heartfelt “thank you” to those competitors who entered Oasby (1) within hours of the new entries process going live. In what was a “humbling day” seeing so many entries coming in, the new process broke previous British Eventing records for the total number of entries received in one day.
Oasby, which takes place from March 9-12 in Lincolnshire, is one of the best-attended early-season fixtures, and as such will serve as an excellent indicative trial run, with terms in place to protect the best interests of riders and encourage a robust field of entries. Running unopposed in the calendar in 2023, it’s proven to be a choice run for professionals and amateurs alike.
The entry system opened, after a short delay, for full members, on Wednesday, February 8th at midday, and entries were accepted in the order in which they arrived – each class closing when it’s reached 90% capacity. Waitlists will be opened in due course and the remaining entries will be allocated from the waitlist.
Queries were raised over the timing of the entries window opening, with some querying whether the midday window favoured professional riders.
“We had a big discussion in the office and thought the midday would be suitable for everybody, as hopefully you could schedule a lunch break if you’re working or if you’re riding you could finish your horses for a short break” commented Buntine, adding “if competitors have suggestions for a different time, please do contact us with suggestions.”
Oasby has long been the season-opening event of choice for many of Britain’s professional event riders, who often have several horses to take into consideration at every event. To accommodate their unique needs, BEDE will waive the substitution fee for horses, allowing riders to confidently enter up to five horses per day for the event and swap their intended mounts at a later date without incurring a financial penalty.
Of the influx of entries, Stuart Buntine says, “we aways knew entries would come in quickly, we just never imagined that quickly. It is humbling to have that many of entries that quickly. Apologies to those who missed out, but if we hadn’t run this system, I’m sure we would have had 1,400 or 1,500 entries and then we would have had to ballot 4 or 500 people. I think, hopefully, it is better to know within 24-hours of entering whether you have a run or not, rather than finding 3-weeks before an event that you were balloted out.”
“It was slightly mayhem yesterday but, someone said last night ‘they never knew Oasby would be more popular than Beyonce tickets’, now we know what Glastonbury feel like!”
Registration for the new Agria Lifetime Equine BE100 League, hosted by BEDE Events, also opened on Wednesday February 8. The new league, running across all BEDE BE100 classes and culminating in a new CCI1* at Osberton International Horse Trials is aimed to give grassroots riders an additional aim for the 2023 season and create increased brand loyalty to British Eventing and BEDE Events.
Further information can be found via www.bede-events.co.uk
