THE first day’s competition is complete, and despite the wet and windy conditions, it’s looking bright for the Wiltshire competitors.

Pippa Funnell was thrilled to take the lead early on riding Billy Beware to 42.3, a horse making his four-star debut.

It wasn’t long though before, under the watchful eye of Charlotte Dujardin, Badgerstown’s Sir Mark Todd undercut their score with his well thought of NZB Campino who looked better than ever.

They showed their class to earn a 40.7, but Todd, ever the professional, thought the canter work wasn’t quite to his usual standard. They would finish the day in fourth place.

Andrew Nicholson and Quimbo gave a good account of themselves for 44.7 to put them in seventh at the end of the day. Nicholson felt his horse’s demeanour is always very calm and chilled which makes him much more rideable than many, but felt that equated to a ‘lack of sparkle’ in the trot work that kept them from the leaders.

Badgerstown’s Tom McEwen was slightly disheartened with Dry Old Party’s test which earned them 57.8 – significantly worse than last year’s score of 51.3. McEwen felt ex-racehorse Dry Old party had been upset by hearing the hounds, which caused him to become quite tense and lacking concentration. A similar story for Ludwig Svennerstal’s Alexander, which left them on 53.2.

The popular Francis Whittington sprung something of a surprise to top the tables going into lunch with an impressive 36.2 which caused a huge cheer all around the grandstand. He partnered Easy Target to the test of his life to steal the lead from Todd. Whittington revealed he’d been working very hard on the flatwork and it showed. He couldn’t maintain the lead for too long however.

After the break it was all change; 2010 winner Paul Tapner and Kilronan pulled out all the stops for a 36 test – good enough to top the tables at the end of day one and a personal best for both horse and rider. Whilst delighted with the performance, Tapner was quick to acknowledge that the dressage could be insignificant after the stiff cross country test that follows on Saturday. Having tipped this pair as exceptional value at 40-1, they’re looking good at this stage.

In horrible conditions, comeback kid Harry Meade and Wild Lone produced a 51, a massive improvement on last year’s 63 which Meade had hoped would be the case.

Lucinda Fredericks put in her usual strong dressage phase riding Flying Finish to score 39, one of only three riders going below 40. She lies in third place going into day two.