MARY KING, whose Olympic ghosts have been well and truly laid to rest by a string of victories in the weeks since her return from Atlanta, has put herself in pole position to claim the Vauxhall Monterey honours at the Blenheim three day event after a supremely obedient dressage test from King Solomon that leaves the Devon rider at the head of the 92 strong field.
In a break with tradition - that has been greeted with mixed reactions from the riders - to day's cross country will be run in reverse order of merit, meaning that King has to wait until the end of the day to tackle Mike Etherington Smith's 30 fence challenge.
"It will give me a chance to see how the course is riding," she said yesterday.
Pippa Funnell is just 1.8 penalties adrift of King after slotting the mare The Tourmaline Rose into second place.
A trio of riders, headed by double Olympic champion Mark Todd, shares third place. Britain's Philip Surl and Milla Clayton Bailey, who topped Thursday's placings, are level pegging with the New Zealander. The Irish quartet met with mixed fortunes over the two days of dressage. Jane O'Flynn produced a superbly confident test with Rosemarie Sisk's young mare Ladakha to move into eighth place on Thursday and, although she slid down to 14th during yesterday's action, she is still well in touch with the leaders.
The strong cross country course will certainly test the seven year old mare's jumping credentials, but O'Flynn will be certain to give her a sympathetic ride today and is not expecting to take all the direct routes.
Karen Connolly, who had a bone crunching fall at last week's young rider championships when attempting to defend the Irish team's 1995 European crown, will also be applying a substantial degree of discretion.
Whiplash from the fall in Austria, where her horse Ivanovich cartwheeled on top of her over a corner, should introduce a more cautious approach today with her Blenheim runner Wullemberg Crisp, which is lying in 21st place.
Alison Kissock, the Co Down rider who has been without a top ride for some time, has formed an impressive partnership with Caroline Hughes's talented nine year old Firefighter. A good solid test at the ungodly hour of 8.09 a.m. has left her in joint 44th.
Austin O'Connor and Simply Rhett had a score of 71.0, leaving him 76th. The mare was tense for most of the test and that was reflected in the marks.
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