Lucy Thompson, Ireland's sole remaining hope in the inaugural Horse and Hound Eventing Grand Prix at Hickstead, is in second place after yesterday's dressage phase, but it is Badminton winner Chris Bartle who holds the overnight advantage and, possibly, the key to a £20,000 bonus.
Bartle, who took the Mitsubishi Motors trophy and its accompanying £26,000 in prize money at Badminton in May, could scoop the BEIB bonus on offer if he achieves the double by adding the Hickstead invitational honours to his tally this afternoon.
But the Yorkshireman is not the only rider among the 26-strong field in awe of Robert Lemieux's jumping test which combines the best - and worst - of both the cross country and show jumping disciplines.
Lucy Thompson, who claimed the 1995 European crown in her first team outing under the Irish flag, is also surprised at the severity of the 28-fence track, which will test the talents of the eventers and their show jumping rivals in this new-style competition.
Paul Schockemohle, Germany's former triple European show jumping champion, came in with a rescue package for the Hickstead showground last year when its sponsorship deal fell through. His idea of a combined eventing/show jumping class and its £15,000 prize fund was greeted enthusiastically by all the riders, but particularly by British show jumper Michael Whitaker, who promptly laid a £2,000 wager with Schockemohle that he would have the beating of the event riders.
Whitaker, who rushed down from the Royal Show up in Stoneleigh for yesterday's dressage phase, has some distance to make up on the leaders as he is lying 23rd. But the scoring system means that he is only 23 penalties off the pace and, with the clock playing an all-important role in today's jumping, he could easily make up the deficit.
The 28-fence course includes eight normal show jumps in the Hickstead main arena, before departing for a tour of some of Douglas Bunn's massive Sussex estate, taking in nine cross country style obstacles en route, where a desperately tight double bounce followed by an almost maximum oxer have caused particular consternation.
Run-outs and refusals will only be penalised on the clock, and any knockdowns will incur the addition of five seconds to the overall time, so the field remains wide open. Olympic three-day event champion Blyth Tait, who is lying seventh overnight, spoke for all the starters when he said yesterday that the dressage placings are likely to play a very small part in the final line-up.
Horse & Hound Eventing Grand Prix (placings after dressage): 1, Britain's Word Perfect II (Chris Bartle), 68.27%; 2, Ireland's Welton Molecule (Lucy Thompson), 66.00%; 3, Britain's The Tourmaline Rose (Pippa Funnell), 65.60%; 4, Britain's Too Smart (Karen Dixon), 65.33%; 5, Germany's Watermill Stream (Bettina Overesch), 64.27%; 6, Britain's Gildenstern (Owen Moore), 62.80%.
