Zara enters the arena
What a day! It wasn’t just the weather that was changeable; as the day wore on there were plenty of surprises in store in the arena
Again, I will leave the action reports to Kathy; you can find her first report HERE and later report HERE but here is my chicken sandwich report from the stands.
Indeed, after yesterday’s pizza fiasco, we took a packed lunch today (my mother would be proud of us) and it was warm and sunny as I tucked into the first round of chicken sandwiches and watched Zara Phillips (nice but not great), Caroline Powell and Lenamore (how can that horse be 19? He behaved like a 3 year old on the way out – you got to love him!) and Nina Ligon on Butts Leon (so young and glamorous).
About 11:30am the clouds started to gather but it was still fine when Lucinda came out to play on Flying Finish (above). The test was good with a score of 40 but Lucinda was not totally happy (see Kathy's report); her final halt was great to see – totally immobile even with the applause and both hands off the reins for a big pat and wave to the crowd. Lovely to see such a young horse so relaxed in that atmosphere.
In the same section as Lucinda was young rider and one of my favourites, Camilla Speirs riding the diminutive Portersize Just a Jiff who had a few spooks but he probably will really suit tomorrow’s course. Japanese rider and Buddhist monk, Kenki Sato (above) did a great test on ChippieH to score 42.2 and I was feeling pretty smug about the preview article we had done on the Japanese team.
Then the heavens opened, the thunder rolled and Kristina Cook showed how Brits deal with rain. It was bucketing down and there were stampedes in the stands as people decided to desert (joined by my three Australian friends who, for some strange reason, didn’t appreciate sitting in wet seats in the rain with the possibility of being struck by lightning). Niklas Lindback and Mister Pooh (that’s the name of his horse, by the way, but I have a feeling it might be the way he was feeling after his test) were circling the arena but the Ground Jury decided to halt proceedings while the storm passed. Ten minutes later he recommenced, followed by Andrew Nicholson riding Nereo who obviously had also been delayed and is NOT a happy man. Rumour has it that security has been assigned to the Ground Jury ..........
I was queuing for hot coffee and trying to dry off in a brief spell of sunshine when Stefano Brecciaroli caused what was thought to be the upset of the day when he scored 38.50 to take the lead. Clayton did a very good test on Bendigo to score 40.40 followed soon after by Michael Jung scoring 40.60 but when the final Japanese rider, Yoshiaki Oiwa took the lead riding Noonday de Conde on a score of 38.10, the crowd were surprised but absolutely delighted. If I was smug after Kenki Sato, I was positively pompous now. I wonder what Dirk Schrade, Yoshiaki’s coach and sitting on a score of 39.80 thought?
I was now wet again after another downpour and resorted to the hand dryer in the ladies’ loo to warm up a bit, along with consuming a bar of chocolate for energy as if I were on a trip up Everest. One of my favourite tweets of the day was from our very own regular contributor Hamish Cargill who commented “London is proving itself to be excellent host of the winter Olympics”, but I was determined to watch William Fox-Pitt and Mark Todd. William did a PB on Lionheart to score 44.10 and then the sun came out and shone down on the Kiwi master, Mark Todd. It was lovely to watch; Toddy and Campino went into third place on 39.10 and the dramatic day came to an end.
I don’t have tickets for the cross country (I actually haven’t met anyone who has so not sure who will be out there tomorrow) but I will be watching, tweeting and all the rest from the very comfortable (dry) sofa at our London base. We also have some Scottish spotters (no, not Ian Stark) on the spot so we’ll be getting some ‘live tweets’ and feedback from them and Kathy will be also be in the thick of it bringing us her report
Should be fun.......................
You can find tomorrow's XC times HERE
