Equestrianism: Hoy shows dressage class to take lead

"That's the best he's done by a long way," Funnell said of the 10-year-old who was included after a minor problem with her Olympic mount Primmore's Pride.

Funnell has no objection to being replaced by Zara Phillips on the British team. "I love being a team player, but if I'd been a selector I would have chosen Zara as well," she said. With two members from each team having ridden their dressage test, Germany hold the advantage for the team title, with Britain (aiming for a sixth consecutive victory) in second and France third. Phillips and the Olympic champion, Leslie Law, will appear in the dressage arena today. William Fox-Pitt, lying fourth on this year's Badminton runner-up, Tamarillo, regards the course for tomorrow's cross-country as "big but not very difficult".

The British, he added, would have preferred a tougher challenge.