Barbury 2014: Nicholson Maintains Lead Going Into Cross Country.

Billy Bounce & Chris King 5th After Show Jumping

A decent crowd gathered for today's CIC** & CIC*** action in spite of a few early rain showers this morning. CIC*** show jumping concluded without significant upset in the leaderboard and Andrew Nicholson & Clark Montgomery jumped clear to maintain their top 2 spots without further penalty.

Three gorgeous greys feature in the top ten - the leader Avebury, Francis Whittington's ride Easy Target, and the beautiful rising star Billy Bounce ridden by local rider, Chris King who rose 8 places after jumping clear.

Less than 13 points separate the top ten and a few riders in the top 20 paid dearly for 2 or more rails down today seeing them drop 20 or more places.

Alex Liddle Riding Romeo Z - 3rd In CIC** Sec. D

Three sections of CIC** class provide the main action on the cross country course today with David Doel, William Fox-Pitt & Christopher Burton winning a section each. This morning's rain eased the fast ground a little and few made it inside the time today with roughly 12pts. separating the top 10 in each of the sections.

National Hunt Jockeys Take On Event Riders In Aid Of The Injured Jockeys Fund

Whilst the CIC** action concluded in the late afternoon Mike Tucker & Alice Fox-Pitt held the crowds attention commentating on the Eventers/Jockeys Challenge in support of the Injured Jockey's Fund. You could here the crowd cheering from the far side of the cross country course, so I imagine we'll see a similar activity next year.

Tomorrow is dominated by the CIC*** cross country action which starts at 13:30, and this will be preceeded by a variety of showjumping competitions in the main arena along with a Dressage Masterclass with Kauto Star & Laura Collett.

I'll be back tomorrow for more fun, in the meantime here are the key links, and a few more photos:

Results

http://www.barburyhorsetrials.co.uk/