An Eventful Life is filming all competitors on cross country at Belton International - find out more here
The sun finally came out to play today, as the Two Star and Intermediate competitors took centre stage. Nothing changed at the top of the Two Star leaderboards: Australia's Christopher Burton, Lycetts Grantham Cup winner in 2016, claimed the first riding Bahira M in a close fought battle, with Chris finishing less than one penalty point ahead of Emily Baldwin and Uppercourt Cooley.
Emily, winner of the Lycetts Grantham Cup back in 2009, has enjoyed a successful two days, also finishing runner up in an intermediate section yesterday on board intermediate first timer Vivian 47.
Reigning Junior European Champions Bubby Upton and Eros DHI had a much larger winning margin in the second two star class. Finishing on their dressage score of 24.9 they recorded a 3.5 penalty advantage over Newark based fellow Junior team mate Lizzie Baugh and Quarry Man.
“Eros is incredibly special – he's done so much for me. Basically he is very cocky and he thinks he's amazing. I'm sure that's why he is so competitive,” said Bubby, who is hoping to catch the eye of the selectors again this year.
“The team here have done an incredible job, working on the cross country track overnight, rolling the course to make the going good for today. I can't thank them enough.”
William Fox-Pitt and Yes I Can
More intermediate classes wrapped up the day. William Fox-Pitt ended on a high, with a runner up spot on Yes I Can behind Piggy French riding Castletown Clover in the straight intermediate section. He has also ridden Little Fire into second place at the end of the Lycetts Grantham Cup dressage phase and holds first and second places in the remaining three star section after dressage, with Bay My Hero and Fernhill Pimms.
Harry Meade and Ireland's Austin O'Connor won the open intermediate sections, while Pippa Funnell remains at the top of the Grantham Cup section, albeit now with Billy Beware, MGH Grafton Street now lying in third behind Little Fire.
Tomorrow's action kicks off with show jumping at 8am. The cross country gets under way at 9am.
Harry Meade won the Open Intermediate on Tenareze and is so cool that he can ride cross country and have a chat on course!
