William Fox-Pitt remains in the lead as Eventing dressage phase concludes in Rio
Day two of the eventing competition, the second day of dressage at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games got underway this morning and with it welcomed the second half of the British team, Pippa Funnell and Kitty King to the arena. On a day of great competition, Britain’s William Fox-Pitt with Christopher Stone’s Chilli Morning, remain in the lead heading into tomorrow’s cross-country phase.
With fellow team-mate William holding the overnight lead after a great performance yesterday and the British team sitting in third place, Pippa was looking to produce a solid test with her 11 year old British bred Billy The Biz, owned by the late Carol Toliver, and they did just that. With some lovely movements throughout the test and expressive trot work the combination were awarded 43.9 penalty points.
Commenting after her test Pippa said; “I was really, really pleased with his [Billy The Biz] performance, I was thrilled with him. There were a few little bits here and there, but if I’m honest I think I’m being greedy, if I think of where he came from three years ago I’m thrilled. I’m delighted for Carol, I know she’ll be looking down and will be thrilled with her little grey pony.”
The afternoon session saw the final Team GB eventing athlete, Kitty King, head into the stadium. With Ceylor L A N, owned by Diana Bown, Jacqueline Owen and Samantha Wilson, the pair made a stunning entrance, with the judges awarding eights across the board for the pair’s first halt. With highlights coming throughout the test, a couple of uncharacteristic errors were unlucky for the duo and a score of 46.8 penalties was confirmed.
Kitty said afterwards; “It was slightly disappointing because he’s capable of a lot better; he did some good work but he just made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes. One of his highlights is usually his medium trot, but it’s a massive atmosphere for the horse and he’s only nine. Today wasn’t quite what we’d hoped for but hopefully we’ll pull some back tomorrow.”
The results from today see Great Britain lying in fourth position in the team standings at the end of the dressage phase heading into tomorrow’s cross-country, with the top three spots currently occupied by Germany, France and Australia.
Individual placings for the Team GB athletes after this first phase of the competition; William Fox-Pitt (1), Pippa Funnell (16), Kitty King (26) and Gemma Tattersall (32).
Tomorrow
Monday 8 August sees the cross-country phase of the eventing competition get underway. Times for the British riders are as follows:
10.23am (14.23 BST) Gemma Tattersall and Quicklook V
11.39am (15.39 BST) William Fox-Pitt and Chilli Morning
13.05 pm (17.05 BST) Pippa Funnell and Billy The Biz
14.21pm (18.21 BST) Kitty King and Ceylor L A N
For a full list of where you can tune in to watch all the live action, visit our coverage guide at: http://goo.gl/Cw9xjl
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.