MARLBOROUGH-BASED New Zealander Andrew Nicholson leaped into the lead in the Event Rider Masters CIC*** at the Barbury International Horse Trials this morning.

Nicholkson, third overnight after dressage, added just two showjumping penalties to take over at the head of the leaderboard from overnight leader Marcio Carvalho Jorge, of Brazil, on Lissy Mac Wayer.

Wiltshire-based Canadian rider Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master were third, ahead of this afternoon's cross country phase.

The ERM is a new series introduced for this year, with Barbury the third of six events on the schedule that will crown an overall champion in September.

Meanwhile Tom McEwen scored a victory in one of three CCI** sections at the Barbury International Horse Trials yesterday, on board the appropriately named Joyride.

McEwen, who has moved from Sir Mark Todd’s yard at Badgserstown near Barury to his own base at Gatcombe Park, finished ahead of Germany's Franca Luedeke and Cero Song and Imogen Murray and Ivar Goode to win section E.

The 25 year old said: "The time is always tight here, so it’s a real thrill, and I thought the track flowed well this way round. The horse has definitely matured in the last year and I’m hoping to take him to Blenheim.”

Flora Harris, who is based in Membury, enjoyed a good afternoon at her most local event, with a win in section D on Caroline Harris’s Monart’s Masterpiece, an eight-year-old by Master Imp.

“To come to Barbury and win is fantastic,” said Flora, who lives just two miles down the road at Julia Norman’s Windmill Stud at Uffcot.

“This is the fastest I’ve been on him. He’s sensitive and tricky but so talented.

“The course rode really well – the ground was quick, but not hard.”

Great Britain Olympian William Fox-Pitt scored an international win at Tattersalls, Ireland, last month, his first since returning from serious injury and did so again on the same horse, Catherine Witt’s Secret Night, with a pillar-to-post victory at Barbury, in section D.

“Because he hasn’t done that much, he’s more like an eight-year-old,” said Fox-Pitt.

“He’s very resilient, a bit of a schoolmaster, and has put up with me being a bit erratic this year. When I first saw him, I didn’t think ‘wow’, but I also felt I couldn’t leave him behind. He’s a nice looking horse that moves and jumps well and he’s really improved.”

Fox-Pitt's fellow Rio-bound riders Gemma Tattersall (Quicklook V) and Pippa Funnell (Billy The Biz) head the CIC3* after show jumping, with the cross-country starting at 11.30am this morning.

Also yesterday, event riders Sir Mark Todd, Paul Tapner and Tim and Jonelle Price won the JCB Champions Challenge run in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund at the trials. 

The Antipodean eventing team knocked the jump jockeys from their two-year reign with a series of seamless baton changes.

Jump jockeys Richard Johnson, Wayne Hutchinson, Tom Scudamore and Tom Bellamy were unable to close the gap following a messy baton change between Scudamore and Hutchinson early on.