Bourdy in a big hurry

Hubert Bourdy jumped a whirlwind round in one of the three vast and beautiful arenas of the Club Hippico la Silla, where he won the opening class of the International Horse Show here by a comfortable margin of 3.95sec, writes Genevieve Murphy from Monterrey, Mexico.

The Frenchman's principal victim in the Seguros Comercial America Welcome Stakes was a Mexian rider, Alberto Harari, on Omnistrom Royal Moon. Next came the Californian-based Irishman, Damian Gardiner, on the speedy mare Pinon Katja, and Michael Whitaker on Dinky Toy.

Whitaker's mount, who is only a seven-year-old, had cleared the fences comfortably before showing his inexperience coming into the final obstacle. "He began spooking and I thought he was going to stop," Whitaker said. But, against all the odds, the horse responded to the rider's urgings and got his stride right at the last moment to clear the fence.

Dinky Toy probably lost three or four seconds there, but he still would not have been faster than the flying Frenchman, who won three classes here last year. Bourdy was last of 50 to jump on Ursula de Clery, a 10- year-old mare he only started riding this year.