All change

The leaderboard tips upside down, as the top two plummet and Caroline Powell rises to triumph

THE morning session over Kelvin Bywater’s showjumping track yielded no clears.

Jonelle Price said it was the toughest Badminton course she’d seen: “I said to Tim, ‘Normally the morning group who have gone a bit slower across country jump well and we skittle them all in the afternoon – but they skittled them all. There isn’t much hope for us.”

Bubby Upton jumped the first clear, which raised her from 16th to 10th.

“I’ve worked with Tina Fletcher and we’ve tried to compact Cola’s canter – similarly to the dressage, we need that better level of collection and the strength behind, which has made him push up instead of at the front rail,” she said.

She was followed by Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight, who just tipped the front rail off the double of uprights at fence 9a to rise one spot to 14th.

Gemma commented: “The first fence is a nasty little vertical right by the edge of the arena – I cantered between the first fence and the crowd before I started, so the crowd wasn’t a surprise to him.”

Wills Oakden’s four faults on Arklow Puissance elevated him two spots to 12th, then Tom Rowland pulled off a clear on Dreamliner, which bumped him from 13th to seventh. He has had help from Jay Halim – who was then off to warm up William Fox-Pitt.

“So hopefully he can work his magic, because we all want William to win,” said Tom.

Jesse Campbell blamed himself for his three down, which pushed him and Cooley Lafitte from 12th to 15th, while fellow Kiwi Jonelle’s four faults on Grappa Nera raised her five spots to sixth.