Irish duo make early impression

Dressage has never been considered a strong point in the Irish camp, but Lucy Thompson has always been something of a specialist in this phase and once again produced the goods in the Badminton arena yesterday morning to take an early, if short-lived, lead with the mare Welton Romance.

"Molly" undoubtedly believes in reminding her connections that she is a mare however and, with spring in the air, had her mind on things other than the technicalities of flying changes. Refusing to co-operate for this movement that she usually relishes, her marks reflected the disobedience to leave her on 51.0 penalties for a test that would, otherwise, have been down in the 40s.

"Considering she was going into orbit half an hour before the test and I didn't even think I'd stay in the arena, it wasn't too bad," Thompson said, after acknowledging her relief that she been out cantering the mare at six o'clock yesterday morning.

The mark was good enough to leave the Irish duo out in front at the coffee break and a solid test from Eric Smiley and Enterprise meant an Irish one-two at this early stage, with Smiley level pegging in second place with Olympic champion Blyth Tait.

But the placings were considerably reshuffled during the day, with a British trio headed by Daisy Dick pushing Thompson down the line, eventually leaving her in overnight fifth when America's Karen Reuter slotted into fourth during the final afternoon session.

Daisy Dick - daughter of former top National Hunt jockey Dave Dick who rode ESB to win the 1956 Aintree Grand National when Devon Loch sprawled on the run-in - rode Headley Bravo into seventh place at Badminton 12 months ago. She currently holds the advantage, but doubts that the Irish-bred will have enough pace to beat the clock on this year's extended cross-country due to his Draught antecedents.

Ruth Friend, at 18 the youngest rider in the field, is making her first appearance at Badminton a memorable one by holding onto second place with Ice Dancer II, two points clear of closely grouped Terry Boon (Marsh Warbler) and Karen Reuter with the Irish export Nightlife IV.

Eric Smiley shares sixth place with the first of Blyth Tait's two runners, Aspyring, while Badminton debutant Mark Kyle is a very satisfying 20th after a best ever test from Irish Patriot.