The body for international horse sport, the FEI, has announced five nations have applied to stage the European Championship in one or more disciplines under a new bidding process launched in March.

Blair Castle International Horse Trials and Country Fair is Scotland's leading equestrian event, running over four days in August each year and attracting more than 40,000 visitors.

The venue is almost exactly in the centre of Scotland, just two miles from the main A9 road and a 90-minute drive from Edinburgh airport.

This year's event runs from August 18 to August 21 and sees Olympic medallists competing alongside amateurs in the four international event classes, while British Showjumping and showing classes provide a platform for riders in other disciplines to compete.

Blair Castle's rivals for 2015 include Aachen in Germany, host of the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games and the annual World Equestrian Festival, which wants to host the showjumping, dressage, eventing, driving, vaulting and reining.

It is also up against Waregem in Belgium, Strezegom in Poland and Breda in The Netherlands..

And another Dutch city, Rotterdam, has applied to host the showjumping as well as the eventing.

The new bid process aims to raise the profile of the FEI European Championships by selecting candidates able to deliver sporting events of the highest quality.

Phase one had seen applicants required to indicate, by July 31, which one or more of the European Championships they would be interested in staging and provide information relating to their ability to meet minimum Championship requirements.

The second phase of the selection process starts on 1 September, 2011, when candidates will be required to provide greater detail on all aspects of the event.

The championships in the Olympic disciplines of showjumping, dressage and eventing will be allocated by the FEI Bureau in April next year.

The successful candidates for the championships in the non-Olympic disciplines will be announced a year later in April 2013.

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