Blenheim Palace’s famous duck has gone. As for the teddy bear, we will all have to wait and see, for David Evans is a man who likes to keep a few surprises up his sleeve.

One of the treats for the thousands who head to the Blenheim International Horse Trials each year, is the fences created by Mr Evans, the man charged with building the course.

To call them fences is to sell him short, for the pigs, bears, dogs, foxes, badgers, owls and giant snails that he creates are all remarkable wooden sculptures.

“People ask to see my drawings. But I can’t draw, I create with a chainsaw,” he said. “I have been using one for 30 years, so I’m not scared of getting stuck into a piece of wood.

“All it takes is a chainsaw and a little imagination.”

For many people it is now difficult to imagine the Blenheim trials taking place without the involvement of Mr Evans, who lives with his wife and two sons Matthew, eight, and Thomas, six, in the village of Middle Aston.

He has been involved in creating the courses for 20 years in the glorious surrounds of the Duke of Marlborough’s ‘back garden’.

As well as building the fences, he is also assistant course designer to Eric Winter.

Mr Evans’s carvings were initially produced to adorn cross country jumps for fun, as his trademark.

The potential of sculptured fences for courses hit him when he was working on an event sponsored by a hotel casino, and his dice and playing card fences proved well worth the gamble.

Now his fences are hugely popular with spectators around the world and they were there to be admired by millions at the Beijing Olympic Games, when he produced pandas, giant carp and pot-bellied pigs.

“My dragon head carving formed part of a jump on the Olympic cross-country course,” said Mr Evans. “It ended up being featured on the front page of the South China Morning Post.”

Getting to the Beijing Olympics was the realisation of a dream for Mr Evans.

Having recognised that he would not make it as a rider, he realised creating some of the biggest and best cross-country fences at home and abroad was the best way of securing himself a place at the games.

For much of his career he has collaborated with one of eventing’s biggest names in course design, Mike Etherington-Smith, who became director of the Blenheim trials when they started in 1990 and went on to design the course for the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Together the two men worked on courses from Hong Kong to Chatsworth House, before Etherington-Smith went on to become chief executive of British Eventing, the governing body of horse trials sport in the UK.

But Blenheim, which is now in 20th year as an international three-day, three-star event, has remained a personal favourite of both men.

Last year it attracted crowds of 65,000 to Woodstock, attracting some of the world’s leading riders and top young horses.

But it also brings in crowds simply there to enjoy the spectacle, displays and trade stands — and to see a few riders go wrong at the water jump. Mr Evans said: “It is just such a fantastic site to work on and is now rightly recognised as one of the leading three-star events in the world.

“For the horses and riders, Blenheim provides a marvellous education, with the big crowds and grandstands, while for the public, it is a beautiful place to look around.”

This year’s trials, with The Oxford Times again among the sponsors, are taking place between September 9 and 12.

A major facelift is being promised, as the event recently announced new investment plans with the unveiling of its new sponsor Fidelity International, the investment company. (It will now become known as the Fidelity Blenheim Palace International Horse Trials, the first time in five years the event has had a title sponsor.) Organisers say the deal will lead to new facilities for thousands of visitors, with benefits for trade stallholders and competitors. The deal will mean new investment in the cross-country courses and more prize money, with competitors also to enjoy improved equine and entertainment facilities.

Mr Evans said he also had some changes of his own in mind.

“Every year we try to make the course look a bit different. We are giving the Blenheim duck a rest this year down at the water jump. But there will be a few surprises.”

Meerkats, maybe. Loaves of bread? A giant copy of The Oxford Times?

You will have to wait and see.

Work on the Blenheim course starts as early as April.

But at least Woodstock is close to his home, for he now spends much of his year working life abroad.

After the Blenheim trials he will be rushing off to China where he is acting as a consultant for the Asian Games and he is also now much preoccupied with a four-star event in Germany.

His wife, Jenny, is understanding as a former rider herself in Canada. While she never got to compete at Blenheim she was individual intermediate Canadian champion in 1990.

Mr Evans, who grew up at Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, rode competitively in the north-west, and his father ran cross-country courses in the region.

Later, Mr Evans joined the Royal Horse Artillery and has fond memories of attending state events, including the wedding of the Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson. Such equestrian background helps when it comes to fence building.

“It definitely helps if you can visualise the fences and see them taking shape.”

Anyone who stood close to a jaw-dropping ditch, watching first-timers hanging on to the side of a horse at 20mph, or on the banks overlooking the water jump at Blenheim, will know nothing can be left to chance.