Don’t bother with the grandstand tickets unless you get there very early. Everyone claims their spot and then leaves their jackets so no one else can sit there and goes off and does their own thing. Left my elderly mother very upset and uncomfortable
Unfortunately our experience wasn’t great. We purchased Grandstand tickets but there wasn’t any seating available when we arrived so we went to get some food. When we came back most people had left to grab lunch as well. We saw some seating that had jackets across it but the end (enough for 2 people) was empty so we sat there. About 10 minutes later this extremely rude woman came up to us and accused us of moving her bag and that we had to move and that the whole bench was already taken. There were two ladies behind us who I’m sure would have seen that we didn’t but joined in with the rude lady shaking their heads at us. She could have spoken to us nicely but was so aggressive. We were told people weren’t allowed to leave their belongings to save seats but there no seats available as everyone had done this. What makes it worse is that woman only had 2 other people sitting there the whole time afterwards. The only nice part for the last hour was they offered us wrist bands for the giddy up area after we went to leave.
Nice venue, but rather limited food and merchandise stands for an international event which was disappointing.
I loved the Liverpool intl. Horse Show.
The atmosphere both years my family went was amazing , the shopping village was excellent with some great bargains and most importantly the standard of competition was awesome.
Fabulous extra entertainment also, especially as New Years Eve.
Wish it would return. 🙏
A great venue and plenty of room to move about in all a fantastic day
Great Show!
I'd give it 0 stars if I could. I attended Polo in the City in Brisbane at Dorrington Park on the 18th November 2023. I paid $113 for my ticket. This provided entry, nothing more. There was no shade due to the position of the limited tents facing the western sun combined with the volume of people crammed into each marquee all vying for a spot to try and keep cool. There was seatings, let alone a "lounge"! The $25 "cocktail" we paid extra for was warm. Cheap basic wine was $15 for a plastic cup about the size of a shot glass. Food was underwhelming and grossly expensive. When seeking shade under a nearby tree right near the portaloos to avoid heat stroke with my party of 5, we were advised by the security team that we could not drink in that area. It was at this point, within half an hour of arriving, that we all left, disappointed and disheartened and feeling very ripped off. They knew how many people would be coming based on ticket sales yet failed to provide adequate shade and seating to accommodate patrons in those numbers. As per ACCC guidelines, it is against the law for businesses to take payment for products or services when they know they won’t be able to supply them. Save your money and watch it for free in the park across the field.next year.
Poorly organised event. Portaloos were disgusting, expected something a bit nicer than portaloos with signage ‘dial-a-DUNNY’ on the door (how classy) for $330 per ticket to Club (lounge was $170). There was not enough seating whatsoever so most were left standing. Some people would ‘reserve’ their seat by placing a handbag or jacket on the seat and walk away for majority of the day so others couldn’t have a seat even though it was being used. Security was minimal so lounge ticket holders were walking into club area for free food/drinks. They ran out of wrist bands on arrival for the club area so we had to wear ‘crew’ bands. The MC made rude remarks over loudspeaker (for example made fun of female photographer there saying they only makes $13 an hour, told the girls that didn’t win fashions on the field to jump off stage and go have a cry). Went years ago and it was bad then, went back this year hoping it had improved but it was even worse. Not enough food going around and it was mostly cold mini burgers and sausage rolls anyway. Catering staff were lovely though that’s the only positive of the day. Horribly overpriced for what it is. My husband and I attend beautiful events regularly, I work in media and he in banking so we attend and host many events a year. Polo in the city Sydney however was an epic disappointment. Never again.
Wonderful day out- needs to be more accessible
Brilliant show
Difficult to get around No signs telling you where to go
The whole event from start to finish was amazing, packed full of exciting and thrilling horsemanship. The retail village is also fantastic a real equestrian’s dream, with everything you could ever need or want in one place for horse and rider. The atmosphere was electric throughout the entire day.
It exceeded my expectations. Saw events I never knew took place. The Heavy Horses were particularly spectacular but concerned about the accident at the end of the routine.
Fantastic
Overall a great event, exciting cross country and show jumping but marred for me by the lack of information. No programs were available , very few maps sited around the site and everything processed through the app. or spectators having to take photos on their phones of the running order and map of the course. Spectators should have had warnings to make sure phones were well charged before coming as it was very easy to run out of battery before the day was out! Thought it was all a little amateurish, sorry, not what I expected from an event such as Blenheim Horse Trials.
Really like this event - used to love it when it was smaller and less commercial but I suppose it has to move with the times .... and make a profit in order to continue. Generally, a really friendly event, although one of the male car park attendants has no common sense - making my son in law (on crutches, with a broken, newly operated on leg) go to the bottom of the disabled car park with a fair old way to hop rather than letting us park nearer the mobility scooter side (where other cars were already parked). On the Sunday, a young blond girl, helpfully, actually told us (without asking) to park near the area where you collect mobility scooters and where the little buggies park. Thank goodness for someone with some common sense. Again, relating to mobility issues, the buggies running to and from the car park are great but it would be good if the buggy drivers had a central call system so that you could ask one of them to radio in to send a buggy to someone needing it. (The man I asked was great as he completed the "ferry" he was already doing and then went to collect my son in law (whose arms and hands had become extremely sore! He was waiting at one of the official collection points, but none of the buggies were going there to collect passengers)). It would help if some of the buggies went to the other collection points, not all lining up next to the Pavilion.
I think may be it is good for one of us to have mobility issues on occasions .... we see what other people face on a day to day basis!!!
So ... on the whole, this is a great event with things for the whole family. My grandchildren loved the hawk displays, the Shetland grand national and the Portuguese riders, and I found Jonty's display and story inspirational .... and it is good to see him doing so well.
One small criticism ....PLEASE .... can you ask a "proper" ice cream seller to attend ... the Whippy stuff is terrible! (Glad there are more food sellers than that first year after Covid!!!).
Relaxed atmosphere for dressage; wonderful shopping
Overall the event was very good …
However one or two things in my opinion missing to make the event complete ..
The main item missing was the availability of an event program!
Yes , you tried very hard to make the Blenheim event ‘APP’ workable and give the information. But the lack of signal especially when awY from main arenas/trade stands was no existent! Therefore keeping track of riders etc was impossible.
Ticket purchase in the first instance was easy & website good to follow for booking. However we were sent both printable tickets at ‘home’ and through the post .. making your sustainability options negative!
The tickets we did print at home for the Show Jumping seat allocation .. did NOT have a QR code on them so the stewards
were unable to scan the ticket ? But they did let us in !!
A little more homework needed to iron out these few creases ( especially helpful to those who do not not have phone/ipad/computer usage would be greatly appreciated
Friendly,good shopping, but no programmes expected to get app, not good, couldn’t see it cause too bright and didn’t want to keep staring at my phone,was a print out of running order if you knew where to get it
Super weekend, great staff and service