A moved by Hopetoun House to introduce a grass roots horse trials a month in advance of their international date (July 27/28) met with agreement when more than 500 horses started the event last weekend.

Run from BE80 to BE open novice level, riders welcomed the cross-country course, that was run over a mixture of portables and existing permanent fences in the deer park.

With the ground aerated to provide better going, the time was an achieveable target for most. Sunday afternoon's rain though made the going slippy for the novice competitors with a number of eliminations and retirals throughout the three sections.

Questions came up thick and fast, with a combination fence at fence five, comprising of a narrow fence, on a related distance to a big drop then onto a narrow skinny although asking a lot did not cause too many problems. A number of riders running later in the day reported that the drop was quite dark and a few horses were hesitant. Most of the problems came at fence eight, running downhill to steps at the lowest part of the courses. A long downhill stretch meant horses opened up and for those that were onward bound a few ran straight past part C at the last fence, a final narrow brush fence out. For the horses that deviated from the route at the second part most struggled and there were a number of glance offs. There was a black flag alternative, a brush fence 'skinny' that many riders took, which added extra time.

Course designer and organiser Stuart Buntine was pleased with the event.

"I thought it was a really good weekend, there were over 500 entries and some really exciting classes. We've had excellent feedback and it was nice to run a relaxed grass roots event. The novice course caused more problems that I'd anticipated, but I think this was due to the slippy ground after the rain," he said.

Wills Oakden made no mistakes to head novice section Y with Annabel Sall's Nordic Diamond Dan, returning a clean sheet to finish on a his dressage score of 26.5.

"This is Dan's first novice run," said Wills "and he took to it like a duck to water. I didn't push for the time but he's so scopey with a big stride that he grew in confidence on his way round.

"I went after the rain and thought the organisers had done a wonderful job. They've brought modern eventing to Scotland and hopefully people will sit up and take notice. The courses were more technical and asking questions – they are not neccesarily tough but different, and you can see that riders were being caught out at the questions," pointed out Wills.

Nordic Diamond Dan, an eight-year-old by Nordic Region, has been ridden by Annabell until this season as she is expecting her first child. A winner at Scotsburn, this was Will's third eventing outing and they are entered for the novice at Eglinton.

With four horses at Hopetoun, Wills was also third in the same section with his and Laura Grieve's Chapeau. The six-year-old gelding by Tygo was third in the CIC* at Floors Castle. "This was his first competition back since then and he was pretty wild in the dressage today,"admitted Wills. "But he's so consisentent in jumping and never had a fence down – he has scope to burn.

"I'm looking forward to coming back to the international event, the organisers are trying to bring the sport back and I hope that they'll be able to hold the Scottish championships here in the future," added Wills, who only the previous weekend won the star of the future showjumping class at the Royal Highland Show.

"That was amazing, all the horses have to earn their keep so they'll go showjumping when there's a free weeeknd," he added.

Also winning novice section Z was Rosie Williams and Jaffna, also double clear within the time. Rosie has been riding the son of Makbul for two years, winning at Floors ON under 18 last season. This year they were third at Hutton and double clear for 12th in the CCI at Houghton. They next head to Eglinton to contest the intermediate.

Lorna Balfour from Cupar led the third novice section with Made To Order. The 10-year-old mare by Jumbo has 21 BE foundation points, they also contest Eglinton next at novice level.

BE 90 sec A – 1, Soviet Star, S Lumgair 28,0,0,0=28; 2, Banaher, J Rome, 32,0,0,0=32; 3, Flicker Fountain, K Anderson 34,0,0,0=34. Sec B – 1, Stroller, A Taylor 27.5,0,0,0=27.5; 2, Greenburn Surprise, J Moses 25.5,0,4.4,0=29.9; 3, Courageous Choice, C Claydon 30,0,0,0=30. Sec C – 1, Hot Topic, EJ Middleton 19.5,8,0,0=27.5; 2, Robin U Blind, S Clark 28,0,0,0=28; 3, Pyzen Du Cap, L Macdonald 28.5,0,0,0=28. Sec D – 1, Killoscully Lad, J Williams 31.5,0,0.4,0=31.9; 2, Champagne Supa Nova, L Cathro 32,0,0,0=32; 3, Indulgence, L Todd 34.5,0,0,0=34.5. Sec O – 1, Wizzard V, E McDonald 29,0,0,0=29; 2, Gold card, L Robb 30.5,0,0,0=30.5; 3, Razzamachas, S Campbell 28,4,0,0=32. Sec P – 1, Beforeyouknowit, M Earith 27.5,0,0,0=27.5; 2, Borthwickshiels Jake, G Ramsay 27.5,4,0,0=31.5; 3, Skewbald Warrior, L Craigs 28,4,0,0=32. Sec Q – 1, Silent Whisper II, A Burns 36.5,0,0,0=36.5; 2, Tocca Solo, R Winkle 37,0,0,0=37; 3, Wesley OA, P Parker 37,0,0,0=37. Sec R – 1, Zamaro, K Gardiner, 27.5,4,0,0=31.5; 2, Roland Rye, S Williamson 33,0,0,0=33; 3, Mr Incredible II, A O'Mara 34.5,0,0,0=34.5. KBIS 4yo Q – 1, Cooley Adventurer, K Hague 29.5,0,0,0=29.5; 2, Seventh Heaven II, S White 34.5,0,0,0=34.5; 3, Avonmills First Edition, S Yeaman 40,0,0,0=40. BE90 open sec S – 1, Kaleidescope Callisto, K Ritchie 34,0,0,0=34; 2, Prince Riley, J Saddler 41,4,0,20=65; 3, Astan Spring, A Pooley 43.5,0,8.8,20=72.3. BE100 sec T – 1, Harry Oh, E Galbraith 27.5,0,0,0=27.5; 2, Hugo Light, J Blackshaw 30.5,0,0,0=30.5; 3, Hotspur Royal Flush, F Grant 31,0,0,0=31.

BE 100 open sec F – 1, Stonehaven's Lady B, H Cooper 27,0,0,0=27; 2, Zipilo, S Dudgeon 29,0,0,0=29; 3, Garwood Master James, C Marshall 32.5,0,0,0=32.5. Sec G – 1, Venus Eclipse, E Buchanan 31.5,0,0,0=31.5; 2, Mirror Image IV, D Ponton 34.5,0,0,0=34.5; 3, Devils Darnay, K Soutar, 35.5,0,0,0=35.5. KBIS 5yo Q – 1, Moss Runner, J McKie 30,0,2.4,0=32.4; 2, Kilrose Silver Fox, E Galbraith 32.5,0,0,0=32.5; 3, Mr Green, A Gilbert 31,0,2.4,0=33.4. Sec I – 1, The Casueway, J Wood 17,0,0,0=17; 2, Keltic Clouds Above, M Bower 23.5,0,0,0,=23.5; 3, Che Van De Neerheide, R Couttie 17.5,4,2.4,0=23.9. Sec J – 1, Victor Hugo II, S Eaton 24,0,0,0=24; 2, Amazing Merlin, J Dun 23.5,4,0,0=27.5; 3, Pure Genius IV, K Warden 25,4,0,0=29. Sec U – 1, Miss Daffy Duck, A Ferrari 22,0,0,0=22; 2, Apaches Blaze, I Mackenzie 31.5,0,0,0=31.5; 3, Just Will IV, L Milne Home 31.5,4,0,0=35.5. KBIS Be100 U18 sec V – 1, Pebbley Limited Edition, A Mindell 29,0,0,0=29; 2, Tuidam, M Willison 30,0,0,0=30; 3, Bolgoenewydd Ambrose, L Kerr 30.5,0,0,0=30. Sec W – 1, Rockwood Joy, M Pearson 28.5,0,0,0=28.5; 2, Setantas Noy, E McGarvie 32,0,0,0=32; 3, Montague II, H Cooper 37,0,0,0=37.

Novice sec X – 1, Made To Order, L Balfour 33,4,0,0=37; 2, Attitude, S Mclelland 32,0,5.2,0=37.2; 3, Ask The Boss, J McKie 37,0,2.4,0=39.4. Sec Y – 1, Nordic Diamond Dan, W oakden, 26.5,0,0,0=26.5; 2, Hanleen Crown Jewels, E Cameron 29.5,0,3.6,0=33.1; 3, Chapeau, W Oakden 36.5,0,1.6,0=38.1. Sec Z inc KBIS ON u18 – 1, Jaffna, R Williams 27.5,0,0,0=27.5; 2, Another Cavalier, J McKie, 33.5,0,0,0=33.5; 3, Diamond Swap, R Wilson, 31,0,3.6,0=34.6.

BE 80 Equestrian Clearance sec K – 1, Sherbet, L Bedawi 24.5,0,0,0=24.5; 2, Making Time, J Mackenzie 37,0,0,0=37; 3, Porthill Touch of Class, C Fotheringham 34,4,0,0=38. Sec L – 1, Trackanais, K Farnsworth 35.5,0,0.4,0=35.9; 2, Ali Dante, J Burnip 40.5,0,0,0=40.5. Sec M – 1, Aka The Lady, M Paterson 28,0,0,0=28; 2, Storm, S Murray 29,0,2,0=31; 3, Blues Inspiration, K Cepok 32,0,0,0=32. Sec N – 1, Lucky Lennon, A Thomson 38.5,0,0,0=38.5; 2, Copycat II, E Harvey 39.5,0,0,0=39.5; 3, Sir Winky of Springwood, S Wright 35.5,4,0,0=39.5.