SHOWJUMPING/World Cup finals: Jessica Kürten got off to an almost dream start at the World Cup finals in Kuala Lumpur yesterday with a fourth-place finish in the opening speed leg.

"I'm absolutely where I wanted to be," the world number two said after taking a fleeting hold on the top spot with the mare Castle Forbes Libertina only to be pushed down the order to fourth at the finish.

"I wanted to be in the first five and an overall top six would be an amazing achievement. I'm thrilled with the way she jumped."

Kürten gave her supporters - and their ranks are increasing by the day as the 36-year-old's tally of wins builds - an anxious moment when she had to abort an attempted short-cut to the fifth. The effort ended with Libertina almost head-butting the wings of the first fence.

"I lost a second there," she said at the post competition press conference, "but it was probably a good thing because I was a bit more relaxed after it."

The Co Antrim rider was then forced to go around the fence instead of through it, but the rest of the round was an exhibition of top-class jumping.

With the clock registering 61.25 seconds, Kurten flew into the lead.

But it didn't last long.

Less than a minute later Kürten was pushed down into second by Swiss ace Beat Mandli, whose talented 10-year-old Ideo du Thot floated round the track to slice off almost a second from the Kurten target.

The runner-up slot was not to be sneezed at, but it was Mandli who was to occupy it, not Kürten as Germany's Marcus Ehning put in a velvet-smooth round with the stallion Sandro Boy to clock the winning time of 60.06, emphasising just why Ehning has claimed squatters' rights on the top rung in the world rider rankings for the past nine months.

But there was one more demotion for Kürten to bear as last in, defending champion Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, skated round on the big jumping Checkmate to register 60.62 to claim third place and leave Kürten fourth and poised ready to put in a further challenge for the title in this afternoon's two-rounder.

"I thought she was too quiet in the practice," Kurten said of the 10-year-old Libertina, which has been promoted - even if only temporarily - from the role of understudy to star performer because of stablemate Quibell's dislike of flying.

While Quibell gets a weekend off at home in Germany, Libertina will be earning her oats over the next three days.

"She is highly strung, but she never doesn't go and do her thing," Kurten said, as she hastily touched the nearest piece of wood.

"She's a fighter and anything you ask her she just goes and does it. She's never been the absolute number one horse at a show and had to go out and do it in all the big classes, but I have a really good feeling about her."

Title-holder Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, one of three German winners in the last four World Cup finals, had tipped Kürten as favourite to steal her crown after the Irish woman claimed two major scalps at the Swedish fixture in Gothenburg a fortnight ago.

That was before Kürten made the decision to rely solely on Libertina, but Kürten believes Michaels-Beerbaum who is the one to watch.

"I think Meredith is unbeatable," she forecast yesterday.

Kürten tips Ehning and Sandro Boy for second and Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst's brilliant mare Candy to make it a top-three whitewash for Germany.

"It's all very well to come out and beat these superstar pairs in a Grand Prix, but I have to be realistic, it's another thing to beat them at a World Cup final," she said.

Whoever takes the title on Sunday will certainly have earned it, but there could well be a massive reshuffling of the placings after this afternoon's two-rounder.

The top 20 from that go on to Sunday's grand final, with the remainder going head-to-head over another two rounds of massive jumping.

Libertina has picked a tough time to come out from under Quibell's shade.