Third-placed Foster leads Irish challenge

IRELAND's three-day eventers are currently holding onto third place in the Auckland Airport international going into today's cross-country phase, with David Foster best of the bunch in individual third after the dressage.

Teamed up with borrowed horses in the four-nation invitational, the Irish are a mere 14 points off the lead. The Americans, team silver medalists in Atlanta, have the advantage after a superbly stylish test from Karen O'Connor and Danzar. Their mark of 50.0 put them 2.8 points clear of Olympic champion Blyth Tail with Mr X, who has kept the hosts' hope of a second consecutive team victory here alive by leading them into second place overnight.

Foster is a further 3.8 adrift with the seven-year-old mare Imagine, while Atlanta team mate Eric Smiley is in seventh with the year younger French Lace. But European champion Lucy Thompson had a far from smooth ride on the former racehorse Jonty, who opted for airs above the ground in preference to the rein-back and, not surprisingly, scored bottom marks from two of the three judges to leave her out at the back of the field.

But today's cross-country is expected to shake up the leaderboard considerably. Even though it is technically a novice track, the riders have had only four days to get used to their horses and, with the event being run under the one-day rather than the full three-day format, will not have the benefit of the steeplechase to get further insight into their horses' jumping capacity.

In the three-star international running concurrently with the team competition, double Olympic champion Mark Todd is lying second with the latest addition to his string, the 10-year-old Stunning. Todd believes that the chestnut, which formerly raced under the name Cunning Stunt before turning his hoof to show jumping and more recently eventing, is a serious proposition for future honours and hopes to have him at Badminton next spring.

Bryce Newman holds the edge after the dressage, but is not planning to take all the direct routes today with the eight-year-old Jake, who has missed out on three-day outings for the past two years with minor injuries.

Compatriot Sally Clark, winner of the individual silver in Atlanta, leads in the two-star class with the nine-year-old Cossack. The pair established their superiority on Thursday after earning top marks from all three dressage judges