Four days of international eventing at Blenheim Palace, 17 to 20 September 2026 — dressage, cross country and showjumping in the Sheepwalks.
Blenheim Palace was built between 1705 and 1722 for the first Duke of Marlborough, on land given by the Crown after his victory in Bavaria, and Queen Anne paid towards it until the money was cancelled in 1712 and John Vanbrugh’s reputation went with it. It is one of the largest houses in England and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987. The Horse Trials are staged in the Sheepwalks, a stretch of the estate’s parkland well away from the house itself.
Blenheim occupies a specific place in eventing. It is the four-star that riders use to move up, so the field is younger and less settled than at Badminton or Burghley and the cross-country course is built to test a horse stepping up rather than to break one already at the top. A long list of riders who went on to win the five-stars first jumped here.
The 2026 trials run from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 September, four days carrying dressage, cross country and showjumping, ticketed separately from the palace. More than two hundred trade stands are spread across the estate. Salon Privé occupies the same park a fortnight earlier, so the ground works twice in a single September. Burghley runs three weeks before, which makes this the third of the great English house fixtures in a month.