Charles pulls out of qualifier

Equestrian Olympia showjumping championships: Peter Charles has pulled out of tomorrow's World Cup qualifier, the feature class at the Olympia showjumping championships in London. Charles, the only Irish rider at the big pre-Christmas event, was forced to retire It's Magic Max in yesterday's Christmas Cracker jump-off after the horse hit three fences.

The nine-year-old gelding, which Charles's owner Lord Harris bought in May of this year, has not yet reproduced the form that saw him touted as the big white hope of British showjumping during his time with Keith Shore, but foot problems have resulted in the horse missing out on several outings.

Recurring foot abscesses in the horse's front feet have been the root of the problems, but the new abscess - which appeared less than 24 hours after the horse's arrival in Olympia - is in a back foot and the bay has understandably been reluctant to jump.

"He definitely won't jump any more this week," Charles said last night. "The blacksmith here has dug out a big hole in his foot and it's been packed with cotton wool and we put a corn shoe on, but he'll go home now and my own farrier can have a look at it."

After hitting three fences early on the course, Charles had retired the horse in Thursday night's main class and, when the gelding obviously wasn't operating again yesterday, Charles opted for the early bath once more. As the placings in yesterday's class decided the starting order for tomorrow's big World Cup feature, that would have meant Charles was first in, so it wasn't too difficult a decision to scratch the horse.

Dutch rider Jan Tops claimed pole position for tomorrow when notching up the fastest clear with the 13-year-old Roofs. Setting an early target of 66.19 seconds in the one-round speed, Tops (42) didn't expect to stay in front but, although six others beat his time, none went clear.

Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, riding for Germany, took the runner-up slot on another mare, Shutterfly, with Paul Barker third for Britain with Temple Croesus.

Peter Charles may have missed out in the main class, but he was at least credited as the inspiration for Steve Guerdat's victory in the following Take Your Own Line. The 21-year-old Swiss rider watched both pathfinder Marcus Ehning and second-in Peter Charles and, although his original course plan had matched the German's, he thought Charles's route looked better and so it proved as Guerdat won by almost a second from Britain's Tim Stockdale.

Robert Smith, leading rider at last month's Belfast Indoor International, rode Gerry Maguire to share the honours at 2.30 metres in last night's Puissance with Danish specialists Michael Aabo and the giant grey Leviathan. Peter Charles started on the eight-year-old Aerobic but went out in the second round at 1.95 metres.

RESULTS

Christmas Cracker (qualifier for World Cup preliminary): 1, Holland's Roofs (Jan Tops), 0 faults, 66.19 seconds; 2, Germany's Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum), 0, 66.81; 3, Britain's Temple Croesus (Paul Barker), 0, 72.06; 4, Spain's Bretzel (Rutherford Latham), 0, 74.75; 5, Switzerland's Campus (Steve Guerdat), 4, 62.93; 6, Germany's Candy (Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst), 4, 63.31.

Accenture Puissance: Equal 1, Denmark's Leviathan (Michael Aabo) and Britain's Gerry Maguire (Robert Smith), 2.30 metres; equal 3, Britain's Lactic 2 (John Whitaker) and Britain's Coeur (John Renwick); 5, Germany's Silwa Little Gun (Helena Weinberg).

Take Your Own Line: 1, Switzerland's Hermes Rouge (Steve Guerdat), 42.19 seconds; 2, Britain's Fresh Direct Landed Gentry (Tim Stockdale), 0, 43.08; 3, Germany's Giorgio (Lars Nieberg), 44.66.

Accenture Stakes: 1, Sweden's H&M Tamina (Malin Baryard), 49.23 seconds; 2, Britain's Marius Claudius (Robert Smith), 50.08; 3, Britain's Cushty (John Renwick), 50.89.