Organisers of the Marlborough Cup have announced that the event will no longer take place
The Marlborough Cup, the UK’s only timber race, which was scheduled to take place at Barbury Castle in Wiltshire during May has been discontinued, although plans are under way for a new festival that will incorporate point-to-pointing and cross-country racing.
Launched in 1995, timber racing only managed to attract a select audience. Although hugely successful in America, its failure in this country was attributed to a number of causes, namely FMD and the lack of time for trainers to produce horses good enough to attempt the type of fences.
The Silver Fox and Countryside Fair, which took place alongside the Marlborough Cup, has also been cancelled.
Founder of the event and owner of The Marlborough Cup course at Barbury, Count Konrad Goess-Saurau is currently working ona plan to develop an end-of-season Marlborough Festival of countryside racing.
The event will take place at the Fullers Barbury Castle point-to-point course and will hopefully include a relaunched Silver Fox Hunt Team Challenge.
Speaking about the decision to end the Marlborough Cup, Count Goess-Saurau said: “I am obviously disappointed that we have been unable to sustain my ultimate vision but we have already embarked on the first steps to redesign the Fullers Barbury Castle racecourse.
“We will have to wait around three years to allow the new turf to become established, before we will be in a position to host such a Festival.”
The 2002 point-to-point fixtures at the Fullers Barbury Castle racecourse remain unaffected.
