Equestrian: Clear run puts Nicholson in top five at Badminton

BADMINTON - Two clear cross country phases today pushed New Zealander Andrew Nicholson into two of the top ten spots on the leaderboard ahead of the final day at the Badminton horse trials.

Nicholson and Lord Killinghurst, who finished second at Badminton last year, sat fifth on 52 penalty points, 7.5 points behind leader Pippa Funnell and Primmore's Pride, of Britain.

"I think the horse has redeemed himself after his effort yesterday," Nicholson said, referring to Lord Killinghurst's poor dressage performance which left them 12th equal going into the cross country on the third day.

"He's a very experienced horse and has his own way of doing things. He's an absolute joy to ride on the cross country and normally he's a joy to ride on the dressage as well but it didn't quite work out that way."

Nicholson also had a clear round on his other mount, Fenicio, to bring him up to ninth place, from 25th equal after the dressage, on 54.8 penalty points.

Fellow New Zealanders Neil Spratt (Haka) and Caroline Powell (Lenamore) also had clear rounds to sit 16th and 18th respectively, jumping well ahead in the field after being 47th equal and 49th equal prior to today's competition.

British-based Spratt said Haka's performance was "unbelievable" given that cross country was not his strong point.

"The steeplechase always winds him up and he just wants to go, so today I decided to just let him go -- but he was pretty tired at the end."

Powell's second mount, Softly Softly III, also finished the course within the optimum time but clocked up penalty points after a fence refusal and was later withdrawn after it appeared to break down at the end of the course.

The only other remaining New Zealand rider, Jonelle Richards, withdrew Mazetto before the cross country after a veterinary inspection found a leg infection.

Funnell, who won the Athens Olympic individual bronze medal with Primmore's Pride, maintained the lead she held after the dressage phase, but lost her points advantage after suffering a time penalty.

Second place was still being held by defending champion William Fox-Pitt on Tamarillo (46.1 points), while Japanese rider and relative unknown Yoshiaki Oiwa surprised the field by moving into third place on Voyou du Roc (51 points).

Most riders agreed the course was fairly quick, with the jumps coming up fast. Only 15 of the 57 riders to complete the course avoided time penalties, with eight horses being eliminated on the cross country and eight others being retired or withdrawn over the day's endurance competition.

This was the last Badminton event to include the traditional full endurance phases of roads and tracks, and steeplechase, before adopting the same shortened format -- cross-country only -- that was used at the Olympics and is becoming the standard for all major events.

Top riders such as Nicholson, Funnell and Fox-Pitt all agreed that the move towards the shorter format was good for the welfare of the horses as well as for commercial reasons -- making it more feasible to run events and appeal to spectators -- but Funnell said it was still sad to see the end of the traditional test.

- NZPA