Equestrianism

William Fox-Pitt and Ian Stark have had to withdraw their Olympic short-listed horses, Cosmopolitan II and Mr Mackinnon, from this week's Badminton Mitsubishi Three-Day Event. Ethelred the Unready, the mount of New Zealand's Mark Todd, was another to be withdrawn yesterday. Both Stark and Todd still have one horse to ride, but Fox-Pitt will be without a mount.

The Blenheim Three-Day Event, which ran without sponsorship last year, will have backing from Vauxhall Motors when it takes place from 19 to 22 September.

Tom Brake, the successful point-to-point and show jumping rider from Somerset, has died at the age of 79.

Britain's Tim Stockdale won the Mauberge Grand Prix in France on the 15-year-old grey, Toggi Santa's Echo. He was also leading rider of the show, for which he won his own weight in red wine, amounting to 96 bottles.