Dressage continued for the second day at Bicton International Horse Trials with all four overnight leader boards being shaken up.
Laura Collett took the lead from early in the day on Balancero in the Mitchell & Webber CCI2*-L, but after the lunch break, fellow British team member Tom McEwen squeezed into the lead by 0.2 penalties. Riding James and Jo Lambert’s Shannondale Arnold, Tom piloted the Irish bred gelding into pole position with a score of 26.5 which was unbeaten for the rest of the day. Having only taken the reins last year, the pair stepped up to 2* level earlier this month at Osberton.
It didn’t take long for 19-year-old Ivy Fisher and Global Promise to put their stamp on the leader board in the Western Counties Equine Hospital CCI3*YR-L. The pair who are based with Eliza Bell, where Ivy is a working pupil, achieved a score of 25.8. Their performance was enough to take a significant lead of 2.9 penalties ahead of overnight leaders Anna Price and Keep Happy who sit in second place as the dressage phase concludes.
In the Symonds & Sampson CCI3*-L, it looked like overnight leaders Gemma Stevens and Chilli King might hold onto the top spot to head into the cross-country, but German rider Felix Etzel put paid to that with a score of 27.4 on his own Promising Pete TSF. Having both moved to the UK earlier this year, the ten-year old gelding made his British Eventing debut last month at Cirencester Park with a win in the Open Novice.
The morning dressage session in the TopSpec CCI4*-S saw overnight leader Ros Canter on Michele and Archie Saul’s 2023 Badminton winner, Lordships Graffalo, take the lead. However, by lunchtime the pair had been pushed into second by Laura Collett and London 52, last year’s winners of this class. It was going to be difficult for the rest of the day’s cohort to beat their score of 20.1, so Ros and Lordships Graffalo stayed in second on 22.7 with Izzy Taylor and SBH Big Wall slotting into third on 25.0. Japan’s Kazuma Tomoto sits in fourth on his own Vinci De La Vigne JRA.
Tomorrow sees the jumping action begin with the CCI2*-L, CCI3*-L and CCI3*YR-L taking on the cross country and CCI4*-S will be showjumping in the Western Counties arena.
Join us at Bicton for all the eventing action and family fun with tickets available to purchase here.