Weekly Update | June 5, 2020

Dear Friends,

What a week for the ages! We here at Blenheim hope that everyone has managed to safely navigate these chaotic and historic times as our country unites to fight both COVID and longstanding racial injustice. In Orange County, the numerous protest marches have been passionate yet peaceful, while the coronavirus pandemic has been largely held at bay…More and more restaurants and small businesses are re-opening, while the COVID numbers remain within the good range.

As for Blenheim’s revised protocol plan, it was approved by the San Juan Capistrano City Council and forwarded on to Sacramento and the OC Board of Supervisors. While that is all good news, we have reached another of our self-imposed deadlines without the necessary official approval to proceed from the State of California. Because the absolute minimum lead time to prepare the facility for an “A” rated show is two weeks, we have unfortunately been forced to cancel the Blenheim Red, White & Blue Classic that was scheduled to start on June 24th. We continue to be optimistic however that we will be able to re-start our 2020 “A” rated schedule with the Showpark Summer Festival NOW AT BLENHEIM July 15-19 in San Juan Capistrano. In the meantime, it is anticipated that the Riding Park will be permitted to host a NO SHOW as well as a couple local/county shows prior to the resumption of our “A” rated summer series…details to be announced when available.

And finally this past Saturday, Peyton & I got surprising and much-appreciated assistance from Steve Dreyer during our sandbag “relocation” project. For the record, we managed to stack over a thousand sandbags onto 19 pallets, all of which amounted to about one third of the total number. Tomorrow morning, we resume operations at 8:00 am with a special invited guest who purports to be an expert at his craft! We will of course keep his identity under wraps until we are able to assess the quality and thoroughness of his work!

Until next time…

Robert Ridland
President, Blenheim Equi Sports…and assistant sandbag coordinator

Blenheim EquiSports, an equestrian event management company based in San Juan Capistrano, CA, produces events in three locations: San Juan Capistrano, Del Mar and Las Vegas, NV. The events include 19 USEF “Premier” rated hunter-jumper shows featuring five FEI CSI events, including a Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ North American League event; the Markel Insurance 1.40m – 1.45m Jumper Series & Final, Developing Jumper Qualifiers & Championships, USHJA International & National Hunter Derbies, Pony Derby Finals, the Whitethorne Equitation Challenge, Medal Finals and more. New for 2020 – an additional four County Horse Shows sanctioned by the Orange County Horse Show Association and the Greater San Diego Hunter-Jumper Association.