World Number One William Fox-Pitt retakes the Lead
William Fox-Pitt showed why he is the world number one after a magnifient cross-country round, Chilli Morning. Fox-Pitt was 35th to go in the 90-strong field, over the extremely testing conditions at the Haras Du Pin site. He rode a masterful round with just 12 time faults taking all the direct routes in order to save energy and valuable time. Taking the risk paid off as he retook the lead he had after day one of Dressage.
“I could not have been more proud of my horse, he just tried really, really hard. The ground conditions were tough – every stride was tough, but he worked hard. I took him easy in the first part because the most important thing that Yogi Breisner said was “just get home – it is no good looking amazing for eight minutes and not getting home”. So I did waste a little time, but I certainly didn’t have much petrol in the tank at the end. I am so proud of him as he kept on trying. He deserves what he achieved today and there is nothing I can do now – we will have to see what happens but I am very relieved.”
The 35-fence course proved extremely testing with 60 competitors completing the course and no competitors finishing within the optimum time. Two fences were removed from the final competition before the start in deference to the testing ground conditions after torrential rain earlier in the week. Just 10 points now separate the top 10 placings, and one penalty fence in tomorrow’s deciding show jumping phase covers the top five riders. It will be an extremely tense finale to an outstanding Eventing competition, with the home nation’s hopes resting on Maxime Livio (FRA) riding Qalao Des Mers, who is in eighth position. Germany are in a very strong position, with overnight leader Sandra Auffarth lying in second place and Michael Jung in third place. New Zealand take up fourth and fifth position with Jonelle Price and Andrew Nicholson respectively, and will be hoping to go one better than their team Bronze position at the 2010 World Equestrian Games held at the Rolex Stadium in Kentucky. British team member Zara Phillips, showed all her skills as a previous World Champion by steering her horse High Kingdom around the challenging cross-country course, with a stunning clear round. Commenting on her ride Phillips said, “I really enjoyed being first out for the Brits as you can just go out and ride it, and go straight, and get on with it. I know how good my horse is and to go out and get a clear round for the team is great. You’ve really got to be sensible out there and just get them home. You’ve got to look after them and just make sure you keep jumping.” Having been World Champion in 2006 in Aachen, Phillips knows exactly what it takes to win and will be going in to the final show jumping phase of the competition at the Stade D’Ornarno in Caen full of confidence, and hoping to secure another top podium finish.
The day was marred by sadness when Wild Lone ridden by British rider Harry Meade collapsed and died after jumping clear cross-country.
