Peter Charles, who is unable to mount a defence of his European championship title in Germany later this month as his top horse, La Ina, is injured, enjoyed a measure of compensation at Hickstead yesterday when he won the Derby Trial with the faster of just two clears in a five-horse jump-off.
His winning mount, T'Aime, was received in part exchange for Bennetton, which he sold to a Swiss buyer last autumn, and the versatile French-bred, with which Charles won the Puissance in Dublin a week ago, will make his Derby debut tomorrow. His victory yesterday came at the expense of Britain's William Funnell (Comex), who were less audacious in their approach to the penultimate oxer and paid a high price for their caution - they lost out to the Irishman by the slimmest possible margin of one-hundredth of a second.
Captain John Ledingham and Kilbaha, who will tomorrow be aiming to win back the Derby honours they claimed in 1994 and 1995 but surrendered last year to Brazil's Nelson Pessoa, made a single mistake on yesterday's track, dragging out the top post on the final Derby rails.
Derby Trial: 1, Ireland's T'Aime (P Charles); 2, Britain's Comex (W Funnell); 3, Britain's Primma (M Armstrong).
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