Wills Oakden delivered a fitting fairytale finish to the final Defender Blair Castle Horse Trials when he claimed the CCI4*-L title to complete a historic hat-trick of back-to-back wins with Keep It Cooley.
The pair won the CCI2*-L title in 2022 and the CCI3*-L in 2023, and they held their nerve to deliver their biggest victory to date.
“He’s king of the castle now, king of Blair Castle,” an emotional Wills told H&H.
“This was my late stepfather’s favourite event, and this horse, Michael, is named after him. To come and do this, three in a row, is very special.”
Wills and the nine-year-old Ramiro B gelding, who were runners-up in the Burgham CCI4*-S last month, were lying in fifth after posting a 34.8 dressage, a mark Wills described as “pretty ouch”.
But it was a heart-filled performance across country in which they produced the fastest jumping clear to add just 10.8 time-penalties and top the leaderboard going into the final phase. Seven of the 13 starters jumped clear across country, and although Alec Lochore’s track did not cause any particular problems, the less than ideal ground conditions thanks to continued rain added their own challenges.
“He was a warrior. I was just so proud of him to dig that deep,” said Wills, who took last year’s Blair Castle Horse Trials CCI4*-L title with A Class Cooley.
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Dressage leaders Tom McEwen and MHS Brown Jack added 17.2 time-penalties to their 28.7 score to sit in provisional second ahead of the showjumping, with just 0.3 of a penalty separating Tom and Wills. With even more rain adding to the mix, Tom’s round began to unravel, and he had four poles and 0.8 of a time-penalty with Fred and Penny Barker’s 10-year-old gelding. This created a healthy margin for Wills and Keep It Cooley, but they only needed one of those lifelines, knocking the middle part of the triple combination, to finish with four faults and 0.4 of a time-penalty.
“We’ve been saying all week that fairytales don’t happen… we’ve been trying to keep level-headed. To go out as the last person to jump at Blair, to be a local winner, this is huge, not just for me but my whole team. I don’t think we’ll ever hear a cheer like that again, it chokes me up,” said Wills.
“Geoff and Elspeth Adam bought this horse at the beginning of this year with this dream. He’s delivered for them, and I’ve delivered, and I’m just exceptionally grateful, and hugely proud to have done it for them. They’ve been fantastic support and brilliant to have on side, they’ve been patient, they’ve trusted me, they’ve worked with me, it’s been a fantastic relationship and I’m just delighted to give them this success.”
Wills also landed the Blair Castle Horse Trials CCI2*-L title with the impressive Mile Beach, owned by Wills’ wife Stephanie and Daniel Ockenden. Wills winning the final Blair CCI2*-L provides a poignant conclusion, as Wills’ aunt Frances Hay-Smith won the first two-star long-format at Blair in 1989 with Jabba The Hutt.
Wills and Mile Beach completed the 97-strong class on their 27.6 dressage score.
“He’s a horse that we think has a massive future, and we hope that he’s a horse that’s going to progress up through levels,” said Wills of the impressive seven-year-old.
LOOKING AHEAD
As the Blair Castle story concludes, Wills said it was time to look ahead to the future at Scone Palace.
“It is the last Blair, and what a way to go out, but now I think it’s about looking forward. Blair was created by these memories and special things happening, and now it’s about the membership body getting behind Scone,” he said.
“It’s incredibly exciting, but what makes it is the atmosphere and the number of people that show up and love the place and go for it. That is the biggest part of our sport and I hope everyone gets behind it. I met the team this week and they’re super keen, they want to do it, and it’s up to us now as members.”
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Since joining H&H in 2018, Becky has covered a broad range of equestrian news including welfare matters, veterinary studies, FEI Tribunal hearings and road safety campaigns. She has also interviewed top riders including Scott Brash, John Whitaker and Ian Stark, to name just a few. Becky’s reporting has taken her to Canada for Spruce Meadows and France for Pau five-star, as well as the Royal Highland and Blair Castle International Horse Trials closer to home. She was also a key part of the remote reporting team for the Tokyo Olympics and the Europeans.
