Eventing legend Ian Stark heard some of the biggest cheers of the day at the final Defender Blair Castle Horse Trials when he jumped clear round the CCI3*-L cross-country – as he confirmed it will be his last time competing at three-star level.
Ian and 12-year-old gelding Chatsworth Diamond toughed it out during some testing conditions yesterday (24 August) to jump the last, fence 25 Gordon Nicolson Kiltmakers Final Fling, and stop the clock with 25.2 time-penalties.
Following his round 70-year-old Ian told H&H he was “relieved it’s all over”.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous in all the years I’ve been eventing,” he said.
“I’m a little bit older than the rest and I was just hellbent on not making a cock-up. I just didn’t want to make a mess, look like a silly old fool and for people to think ‘The old git should have given up years ago’.”
Ian and “Bill” jumped one of 23 clears from the 36 cross-country starters; only two combinations made the 9min optimum time.
“Everything rode fine, but the ground was tiring. There were a few tighter turns, and when the horses have been galloping in the mud they don’t quite react the same. You have to work for it, but the combinations and distances rode well. It was just hard work,” said Ian.
“The horse is good and he’s as honest as the day is long. He lacks a bit of speed and stamina, especially in that going, but he never loses his jump. He looks for the flags and just tries his heart out. There was one of two ‘moments’; he jumped so big into the water at the top (fence 14 ABC Malcolm Group Logs & Brush Wedge) and I thought ‘I’m never going to make this turn’, and he turned and popped over the brush, he’s so genuine.”
Ian Stark had two fences down in the showjumping, to add eight faults to his two-phase score of 55.2 for 19th place. Piggy March produced one of only five showjumping clears to take the honours in the CCI3*-L with Susie Wood’s Cooley Goodwood.
Ian said he has had “some marvellous times” at Blair.
“I’ve only won once here, but I’ve had some great fun and incredible parties, the typical Scottish hospitality,” he said.
“We really owe the Duke of Atholl and his predecessor a huge amount of thanks and gratitude, they’ve given us an event since the 70s. The fact that an event is now going to Scone is phenomenal. It means we can keep a big event in Scotland, because otherwise there was going to be nothing else [at this level]. Here at Blair we’ve had an amazing time, and we’re so lucky to be here at all, never mind all these years.
“Everything evolves, everything moves on, and the farming here is changing so it’s time to move on. But we’re all sad, and we will miss it. Even when I’m not coming here, when I drive up the A9 I think ‘There’s Blair’, and I want to stop. It will be sad, but it’s been great.”
The final Blair also marks Ian’s final CCI3* competition; Ian confirmed to H&H that it would be his last at the level – and that his grandson Freddie (Robson) will possibly take on the ride of Chatsworth Diamond.
“I’ve got a six-year-old I want to keep playing with, but I’ve felt so sick all week, I’m not going to do three-star again. I’m pushing my luck at this age, I feel good, I feel fit – and I’m not knackered, which is great,” said Ian, who did a three-hour mountain bike ride round Glen Tilt on Friday.
“In 2021 Bill did the two-star here, then two years ago when we tried to do the three-star we didn’t start the dressage, and last year he got an abscess two days before the event, so I thought ‘let’s give it one more go for the three-star’.
“The Duchess of Devonshire, who bred him, and I have talked and I’m hoping Freddie is going to take him over. Freddie will be 15 in September. He wants to be a jockey but I have a feeling he might have a bit of fun on this horse, he might do a bit of Pony Club and some novice events. The poor boy, he has no idea the pressure he’s going to be under, the duchess is an easy owner, his grandfather is not!”
Ian added that Daisy Job, who works for the Starks part-time and was competing in the CCI2*-L with Ask Me Back, may also be a candidate for riding Chatsworth Diamond.
“Daisy has been keeping the horse fit for us while I’ve been in America and at Paris, and she’s been brilliant, so either Freddie or Daisy will get the ride,” he said.
But Ian is not stepping back from competing entirely.
“I’ve got a six-year-old (CCS Dance Monkey) who’s about to do his first novice. I bought him in October and he’s done a couple of BE100s. I qualified for the Blair CCI*-intro, but he and Bill are so attached, they whinny to each other the whole time like four-year-olds, so I left him at home and I’m going to take him to Allerton at the end of the season,” said Ian.
“I’ve got four three- and four-year-olds at home waiting to be backed, so I’ll play with them. I’ll keep coaching a bit in America, they’re keen to get me to sign on until 2028 as a cross-country coach but I’ll be nearly 75 by then so I’m thinking I can’t keep going on and having these wonderful times that I’m having.”
2024 is also Ian’s final year course-designing – despite a number of pleas for him to postpone retirement – but he will continue to provide advice to the team at Bramham.
“Little did I know when I left school and worked for the DHHS office for 10 years, and Jenny and I were married that two little kiddies, that it was going to take me to five Olympics, be a commentator, 20 years of stewarding in racing, course-designing at the top level, and at 70 I’m still going. I consider myself very, very lucky – and I shouldn’t push my luck,” he said.
“I’m a pretty huge believer in moving and leaving room for the young. Sometimes you feel hindered because you can’t move on or move up and I don’t want to get in people’s way, this is a young man’s sport, it’s not for old people like me. When you stop, you stop, you don’t hang around.”
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