Ireland launches a three-pronged attack on the Mitsubishi Motors trophy at the Badminton three-day event, which kicks off this morning. It was originally planned that a quartet of Irish riders would be bidding for glory but Joe Savage's giant grey Don't Step Back, which provided the horsepower for Patricia Donegan's brilliant Olympic debut in Sydney, was sidelined by a minor injury and had to be withdrawn last month.

But the trio that will be going through the rigours of the event are all more than capable of a top 10 finish, even though two have suffered setbacks en route to the British spring highlight.

Eric Smiley, at 51 the eldest of the contingent, has the best track record of the three having recorded 12th place finishes in 1995, 97 and 98. Those were all with Enterprise, which has now retired from top-level competition, but Smiley this time campaigns another grey, Cecil and Dervla Quinn's 14-year-old Irish Patriot, which competed in 1998 with former jockey Mark Kyle.

Smiley himself has had a less than perfect run-up to Badminton, breaking his leg at the end of January in a fall at home in Ballynahinch, Co Down. The cruciate ligament was also damaged. and Smiley underwent surgery on St Valentine's Day. He finally got the go-ahead to ride at Badminton from his consultant a fortnight ago and, in what he described as "the weekend from hell", rode two horses in Co Fermanagh on the Saturday and two in Co Kilkenny the following day, notching up a win in spite of a stomach bug that caused him to shed half a stone.

Badminton debutante Jane O'Flynn (40) has also had a less than ideal build-up, although it was the horse that was sidelined by injury not the rider. The 11-year-old Braveheart, which broke into the international ranks only last season, missed two weeks' work after cutting a leg en route to a competition in Co Down. The cut required stitching and the resulting lay-off meant the horse has had only one low-key outing before the biggest test of his career.

In contrast, 35-year-old Virginia McGrath's The Yellow Earl is a veteran of two Olympics and has gone clear across country in each of his three Badminton runs. With a European team bronze in 1995 and a 15th place finish in the 1998 World Equestrian Games under his girth, the 16-year-old Yellow Earl is ready to take Badminton by storm after two solid prep runs in England this spring.

Yet the Irish trio will have their work cut out in a star-studded field of 89 runners.