Equestrianism: British rivals meet at Gatcombe Park

Pippa Funnell and William Fox-Pitt, the most successful riders in the world so far this year, will continue their affable rivalry at the Festival of British Eventing at Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire from 1 to 3 August.

The two British riders, who have between them collected all the richest prizes this season, will be bidding for the £5,000 that goes to the winner of Gatcombe's Open Championship.

Funnell, who won this contest in 1992, will be on Primmore's Pride with whom she won the Kentucky Three-Day Event in Lexington in April. Fox-Pitt rides the 2000 champion Moon Man (who was third in Lexington this year) and Stunning, who holds the distinction of being the only horse to finish within Gatcombe's difficult optimum time having scorched round the cross-country course last year.

The New Zealand-bred Stunning, formerly ridden by Mark Todd, also used his turn of foot effectively in May at Chatsworth where he gave Fox-Pitt victory over Funnell.

Mark Phillips, who has been course designer at Gatcombe since the first event was staged there in 1983, has invested in a remarkable machine called an Agri-vator to establish satisfactory ground conditions. Using spikes that rotovate without uprooting the grass, it can turn rock-hard ground into sponge-like footing. "We've had trouble getting good going in the past, but now we can guarantee it," Phillips said.

Having established the Festival last year - with open, intermediate and novice titles on offer for the first time at the same meeting - Phillips was able to make a substantial investment into the 2002 cross-country courses. He describes 2003 as "a year of consolidation" in which he has been able to "tweak" some of the obstacles.

His tweaking has resulted in a demanding track, with some serious accuracy problems. These are included in the Attlaw Security Steps (fences 14 and 15) which Phillips reckons to be the obstacle that riders will fear the most. It comprises a narrow stump (a new word in cross-country design that Phillips has introduced this year) before horses jump down the redesigned steps to another stump at the base.