Equestrianism: Elise grease-proof as rivals slip up

Mark Armstrong and the nine-year-old French-bred mare, Elise, showed their appreciation of the new all-weather surface in the main Castle arena at the Royal Windsor Horse Show yesterday when they won the Windsor Speed Stakes by a slender margin of 0.04sec.

It was a nice start to the year for Elise, who last jumped at Olympia in December, but it will not have been of sufficient significance to achieve Armstong's goal of a place on the team for September's World Equestrian Games.

Far too few of the competitors made any serious attempt to win the class, most of them opting for a slow schooling round. In the end it was the usual bunch of top riders who injected a little life into the contest. Armstrong gained his narrow victory from Robert Smith (another rider keen for a place in the World Games) on the grey Lucky Sky, with David McPherson in third place on Coriama. Tim Stockdale was fastest of all in 72.15sec on Glenwood Springs, but had two fences down; John Whitaker would have won with Feria d'Taciane in 73.29sec but for a single error.

Smith's mount, Lucky Sky, had a chequered career after moving to Warwickshire early last year. Having won two classes on the Sunshine Tour in Spain, the horse had a fall at an Italian show, which resulted in Smith having four stitches in his ear. Back at home, Lucky Sky jumped out of his field into some building works and he had to have more than a hundred stitches.

Both Armstrong and Smith are among the 11 show jumping riders short-listed for the World Games. They will both need to show good form in Nations Cup shows (Armstrong goes to Lucerne and Smith to Lisbon) to be selected for the Great Britain team.

The new surface – a combination of sand, rubber and grease – was put down at a cost of £250,000 for the principal benefit of the equestrian spectacular, All the Queen's Horses, which begins its three-night run this evening. The surface will be removed when the show is over.