Clark Montgomery leads after dressage

Eventing fans had to wait until the third from last test of the day to see a new dressage leader at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials.

Smart Clark

Today featured a host of Olympians in action, including four-star behemoths William Fox-Pitt and Andrew Nicholson. But it was 32-year-old Clark Montgomery American rider who shook up the leaderboard with a 33.5pen test, putting him 2.5pen clear of yesterday’s leader Paul Tapner.

Montgomery’s 17hh bay gelding Loughan Glen made the test look straightforward, picking up a scattering of 9s from the judges.

“The horse has put in some good marks at CCI and CIC level, so I knew he was capable of a good mark,” he said. “The atmosphere helps this horse and peps him up.”

Placings

Yesterday’s top four of Paul Tapner, Francis Whittington, Lucinda Fredericks and Mark Todd (NZB Campino) all moved down one place respectively, while Sara Algotsson Ostholt, William Fox-Pitt, Peter Flarup and Mark Todd (on Leonidas II) moved into the top 10 after their tests today.

For Francis, who is yet to win a four-star, it was a nerve-wracking wait watching today’s competition.

“I wasn’t confident enough to watch lots of tests, I’d watch half of them and that was enough. There’s been some good tests today but I’m happy to have such a good placing ahead of tomorrow’s cross-country,” he said.

A challenge ahead

After yesterday’s constant showers and today’s mix of rain and sun, the immaculate estate at Badminton Park is looking less than pristine and the going will inevitably play a huge part in tomorrow’s outcome.

The ground conditions, likely to be worsened by the expected rain tomorrow, look set to make tomorrow’s cross-country course an even greater challenge.

Last year there were a few complaints that the course was not enough of a challenge, and many found the time easy to achieve. But this year, the new course designed by Italian Giuseppe Della Chiesa is set to be far more influential, with Paul Tapner expecting only a handful of riders to go clear within the time.

One fence – the log at 18 B, has been removed from the course ahead of tomorrow’s competition.