Spooky 'Isaac' holds it together

The defending champion pilots a rising star to lead the first phase

FEW people were delighted with their dressage marks, with many of those at the sharp end feeling they deserved a few more points. William Fox-Pitt, who slotted into equal eighth with Grafennacht, described the judges as “stingy”.

But to their credit, the ground jury – British president Sandy Phillips, the USA’s Jane Hamlin and Austria’s Christian Steiner – held their standard and did not fling marks around on Friday. Additionally, and unusually, there wasn’t a rush of star horses at the end and the eventual top 10 came from all through the draw.

Against this backdrop, Ros Canter piloted the inexperienced Izilot DHI through a composed test to take the lead from the middle session on Friday morning.

The tall, lithe, uphill “Isaac” is a sharp, spooky horse, but he only showed it in a look at the camera at A in the walk, the one time his marks dropped below a seven. He came out with 25.3, helped by a nine apiece from Christian and Sandy in medium and extended canters.

“I’ve done less schooling over the winter and hacked him more. I’m learning how to ride him, and to react less. If I think he’s going to spook, I almost drop the reins rather than trying to help him through it,” she said.

Bubby Upton and Cola led on Thursday and held second after the phase, just two marks behind Ros at that point.