Davenport gets chance to shine

Equestrian: Richard Davenport will compete in the Verona World Cup Show

Richard Davenport will be the only British rider competing in the Verona World Cup Show, following the withdrawal of Michael Whitaker and Scott Smith, who had both intended to take part in the Italian meeting which begins today. Smith's top horse, Cabri d'Elle, has a virus while Whitaker, who returned home on Monday after a disappointing show in Hannover with Handel, decided to give Verona a miss while his horse has a blood test.

Davenport received his late call on Monday, having just driven the horsebox from Aarhus in Denmark to Jan Tops' yard at Valkenswaard in the Netherlands where he and his younger brother, James, were based for most of the year. Richard is currently the top British rider on the Western European League of the World Cup, having ridden Grand Marnier into second place in the qualifier at Helsinki 12 days ago.

Given the urgent need for new talent, the selectors will be following the progress of 21-year-old Richard and his talented chestnut horse with considerable interest. Both gave them encouraging signs this year when contributing to a British victory in the Young Riders European Championships, in which James Davenport was an individual silver medallist as well as being on the winning team with his brother. Richard also contributed to Britain's second place in this year's Nations Cup at Lisbon.

In Helsinki, where he was runner-up to the German rider Toni Hassmann, Richard Davenport finished ahead of some of the best known names in the sport – among them the Brazilian world champion, Rodrigo Pessoa, and two Olympic gold medallists, the Davenports' Dutch mentor Tops and Germany's Otto Becker.

Both Tops and Becker are in Verona where they will face some tough opposition, notably from Germany's Lars Nieberg (one of Becker's team-mates on the winning German Olympic team in Sydney) and Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson, who was an individual bronze medallist in this year's European Championships and is another protégé of Tops.

Their first serious encounter will be in tomorrow evening's speed contest, which decides the top 18 who will go through to the World Cup Qualifier on Saturday.