ITALY'S Stella Benatti, riding Zaron, narrowly led the CIC*** competition (section B) at the end of the first day of dressage at the St James's Place Barbury International Horse Trials today.

Benatti, the penultimate competitor on day one, posted a dressage score of 42.2 to put her at the top of the overnight leaderboard.

British riders dominated the next four placings, with Lambourn-based Laura Collett and Grand Manoeuvre next on 42.6.

Badgerstown-based Tom McEwen and Staff Des Champs were third on 46.1, with Paul Simms and Glengarnock 48.8 next.

In equal fifth are Alexander Whewell, riding Chakiris Star and Oliver Townend and Note Worthy (49.7).

Highworth-based Australian rider Paul Tapner has Kilronan and Vanir Kamira in seventh and eight spots respectively.

William Fox-Pitt, who was this week named in Great Britain's eventing team for the Rio Olympics, took the early lead in the CIC** section C on Secret Night with 41.1.

Section D was headed by Australia's Christopher Burton and Nobilis (35.6), with Membury's Flora Harris and Monarts Masterpiece third on 42.3 and Marlborough-based New Zealander Andrew Nicholson fourth on 43.4.

McEwen and Joyride (44.2) led section E, followed by Nicholson and Byrnesgrove First Diamond and Harris and Moylaw Badger.

Burton was in charge of novice section F with Fire Fly on 193, followed by Purton-based New Zealander Neil Spratt and First Lancer on 25.0 and Reybridge rider David Doel on Cracker Jack II on 26.3, along with Jasmine Abraham and Genuine Pearl.

The second day of dressage for the CIC*** continues tomorrow, along with several other novice sections.

Former professional jockey Kelly Harrison and former racehorse Daredevil Boy will be among those contesting the Retraining of Racehorse (RoR) Championship.

Newmarket-based Harrison regularly rode for established trainers such as William Haggas before retiring in 2013, while Daredevil Boy, a son of the National Hunt sire Beneficial, failed to make an impression in his two starts as a racehorse.

Harrison said: "I got Daredevil Boy from Jo Hughes in Lambourn three and a half years ago.

"He really helped me with retiring from being a jockey, as I wanted to continue competing at something, so focusing on re-training and competing him helped fill the void of not race-riding”.

The duo will line up against 16 other former racehorses and riders, including former Team GB Olympian Kristina Cook, riding Watergate, and world-class British squad member Harry Meade, with Sparky’s Reflection.

The top 10 finishers return on Sunday to showjump for the RoR Eventing Championship.

Harrison said: "It has taken a bit of time (for Daredevil Boy) to adapt to his role as an event horse, as initially he had to learn to settle but he always showed promise, particularly in the cross-country phase.

"This season he has felt great and I have had my eye on the RoR class at Barbury for a while and I feel he is now ready.

"I have never been to Barbury before, I hear it's stunning and it's really exciting to be competing at such a high profile event".

The Event Rider Masters competition, which will be televised at Barbury during the course of the weekend, gets under way with dressage on Saturday morning.

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