Cotswold Cup vs BE80 - any insight?

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DeliaRides

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Hoping somebody might have some thoughts on this. Teen daughter is starting to event her new horse this season, and the first BE80 that is reasonably near to us is Eland in mid-April. There is a Cotswold Cup mid-March in Offchurch Bury which we would potentially consider as a warm-up run if they hold it (weather/ground etc. it feels like a risky one especially after a wet winter and wouldn't go if not good, but still mulling over options). A friend with a similar age/ability teen said they did Cotswold Cup at Solihull last year and found it more technical feeling than the half a dozen BE80s they did. You can't really tell a lot from videos online etc. Folks who have done CC and BE....are they normally similar standard? Is one usually lighter touch than the other? Is the Solihull CC traditionally a bit spicier than others? Not bothered about height, it's more the potential for some technical questions and want to make sure it is a confidence boost not a knock.

Just want to understand whether even if conditions are good, is it a reasonable idea to start with CC at Offchurch Bury?
 
Very, very comparable. Likely to be built by the same people if venues are running both. More dictated by the location of the event rather than whether it's BE or CC. Offchurch will be nice and the ground will likely be good, if it runs. Lloyd seems to put a lot of effort into the ground.
Solihull is quite flat so you may see them add interest with more combinations etc rather than terrain.
 
Gosh, speedy replies! Thank you, this is helpful and I hoped they would be comparable, and yes I understand what you mean if Solihull is quite flat then they add interest with combinations - Offchurch looks slightly more undulating.

Thanks so much :)
 
The main difference is cost! As others have said pretty much the same competition standard. Really depends on budget and goals. CC champs vs. BE80 champs.
 
Matafleur said:
Very, very comparable. Likely to be built by the same people if venues are running both. More dictated by the location of the event rather than whether it's BE or CC. Offchurch will be nice and the ground will likely be good, if it runs. Lloyd seems to put a lot of effort into the ground.
Solihull is quite flat so you may see them add interest with more combinations etc rather than terrain.
Click to expand...

This!
 
We’ve done both Solihull and Eland. Eland is the more testing track of those 2. Generous use of the brush rule to create imposing looking jumps, very undulating & pretty steep steps. And in the 80 there is an island you jump onto and off - which is straightforward but does involve ditches, so some horses get stuck up there if ditches are an issue.
 
Thanks all for input. Eland is reasonably near for us so we are familiar with it, but it's about as far south as we can get in a day so most of the CC venues are new for us. And yes the steps are STEEP! Daughter did the Hunter Trials champs there on her pony and the steps felt pretty full on for little legs! You've reminded me about the island/ditch though....good tip for training over the next couple of weeks. We do like it at Eland though, and it's good to hear that it is relatively speaking, packed with the kinds of things we are going to see elsewhere. Daughter did the BRC HT Champs on her pony at Swalcliffe last year and they did brilliantly, but it was very technical, for a 70...almost as many combinations as single fences, lots of terrain etc. there was nowhere near here (Cheshire) we could have trained for that really, and I genuinely didn't know if they'd make it past about fence 5, but they did finish so we were very pleased! New horse is bigger and bolder, but only 6 so inexperienced, so everything is about learning this year.
 
Yes some questions at Eland often takes people by surprise. The ditch hedge is also a rider scarer as it looks big at all levels. It rides well but some horses back off because of the shift from grass to gravel a few metres out. So that's worth bearing in mind too. Not sure which way round it will run this year but some years there is a drop fence in the 80. And it's a big uphill fence the other way. Small landing that way as it's a step up with a brush fence hiding the step, but from the downhill side it looks very big for the level.
 
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