Equestrianism: World Games quartet to double up

Pippa Funnell rates the chances of Cornerman and Primmore's Pride, the two horses she rides at the Burghley Masterfoods Horse Trials that begin today in Lincolnshire, as just about equal.

The dual European champion, a member of Britain's three-day event team at next month's World Equestrian Games in Jerez de la Frontera, was runner-up at both Gatcombe and Punchestown on nine-year-old Primmore's Pride. Cornerman, who is a year older, had been due to run at Badminton in May until Funnell injured her left leg in a fall and sensibly decided to ride only one horse there. That was the eventual Badminton winner, Supreme Rock, who will be her mount in Jerez.

Funnell's three team-mates for the World Games – Jeanette Brakewell, William Fox-Pitt and Leslie Law – will also be riding two horses. Law's pair include Diamond Hall Red, who won the event in 1999 when ridden by New Zealand's Mark Todd.

Wolfgang Feld had been due to design the course last year until foot-and-mouth worries led to a reduced budget and put his appointment on hold. As if to compensate for the delay, the German course designer has put his own indelible mark on the event by including no fewer than 26 new obstacles on the 32-fence cross-country course.