Kitty Boggis enjoyed her first advanced win at Aston-le-Walls with Boondoggle.
Kitty’s double clear with the fastest round in section K overhauled Jo May’s lead after Faere Vision dropped one show jump.
Oliver Townend bounced back from a heavy fall at Barbury to show some impressive form. He picked up a win with Carousel Quest, two seconds and a third across the advanced sections.
Mary King put paid to a second Townend victory by heading section I with Apache Sauce. They finished a comfortable 2pen’s head of Oliver Townend’s Golden Hue.
The Olympic dressage section H went to Olympic reserve Zinzan II (Rodney Powell) landing the spoils ahead of Belton CIC*** winner Inonothing (Paul Tapner) and Chatsworth World Cup qualifier winner Flint Curtis (Oliver Townend).
Other reserve horses Tamarillo (fourth), Imperial Cavalier (fifth), Ballincoola (eighth) followed in their wake, and Mark Todd’s Hong Kong-bound Gandalf finished 10th.
The British team horses produced encouragingly good dressage tests, with three out of the five posting sub-30 scores, before being withdrawn ahead of the cross-country. William Fox-Pitt (Parkmore Ed) led on 26.1 with Kristina Cook (Miners Frolic) just 0.4pen behind and Daisy Dick’s Spring Along on 28.
Oliver Townend looked set for a win in section L on the good jumper Coup De Coeur after leading the dressage. But eight faults in the show jumping opened the door for Chris King and The Secret Weapon to win with the fastest time of the day.
The final advanced section, M, was a runaway victory for Andrew Nicholson and Avebury.
Nigel Taylor’s cross-country track featured at least five major changes. About three-quarters of the runners went clear, with just a handful of non-finishers.
Lisa Maynard’s advanced ride First Frost had to be put down after an accident at a ditch fence.
Jeanette Brakewell broke her collar-bone in a fall from novice ride High Old Times — amazingly, the first broken bone of her riding career.
Read H&H’s Aston-Le-Walls (2) report in full in Thursday’s magazine
