Leonidas Pings To Lead

Experienced horses from three different countries head the rankings in phase one, but rising British equine and human stars are close behind

FOUR pairs of seasoned professionals led after dressage. As expected, the 2015 winners Michael Jung and La Biosthetique-Sam FBW dominated the first day. Although they scored some nines, their mark of 38.9 reflected the fact they fluffed their final flying change for a five and two fours. The German pair had left the door open for an overtake.

“I could have had him more in front of my leg in canter,” said Michael, smiling anyway. “Because of the pressure from the spectators, I tried to have him really relaxed. When I went in, there was less pressure than I expected and he was too relaxed.”

The judges were not in agreement on their eventual leader — Germany’s president Martin Plewa gave the honour to Kiwi Mark Todd (Leonidas II), while Poland’s Katarzyna Konarksa awarded Mark the same score as US rider Lauren Kieffer (Veronica II), and Britain’s Harry Payne favoured Lauren. But the marks were close, without big discrepancies. Andrew Nicholson praised the judges for remaining consistent through the two days.

In the final analysis, Mark Todd had the edge on 36.7, 0.3 of a penalty ahead of Lauren. Leonidas’ test was a joy to watch. He sprang off the ground in a gloriously consistent frame, with Toddy quietly lifting his heels to find the horse’s sides and give the aids with his long legs. He collected three nines for his riding.