A FOURTH-placed finish at Luhmühlen was just the tonic Marlborough-based eventer Tim Price needed as he eagerly awaits to hear whether he has secured his place at the Olympic Games.

The 37-year-old was dealt a blow at the beginning of the season when his number one horse, Wesko, was ruled out for the season through injury.

Non-finishes at Kentucky and Badminton on Bango and Ringwood Sky Boy respectively delivered a further sucker punch for the New Zealand rider, who started the year sat third in the world.

However, at the latest four-star event, Price put those issues behind him to secure fourth spot in Germany and keep his Olympic hopes on track, with a team announcement expected next week.

“I can relax a bit now knowing I have done all I can,” he told the Advertiser.

“I wouldn’t want to be a selector. It has all become quite difficult.

“Whether Ringwood is the horse to go to Rio or not is up to them.

“I have got Bango, who has looked good all year. He was very unlucky at Kentucky to fall, otherwise he would have been going into the show jumping phase in second place and his life journey could have been very different.

“He went well at Bramham, so this guy (Ringwood) going well a week later at Luhmühlen is just the icing on the cake to enforce that I am in form and the horses are in form.”

Price was lying fifth at Luhmühlen after the opening dressage stage and a clear round inside the time at cross country lifted him to third spot.

Despite jumping clear in the final show jumping phase, four time penalties saw him drop off the podium to fourth with a score of 50.2.

“Ringwood Sky Boy was awesome and he is becoming a bit more of a complete horse,” added Price.

“He went really well at Burghley but it was always a matter of trying to repeat the process and getting a good result.

“That didn’t happen at Badminton, through no fault of his own. The Vicarage V is a wide jump, to say the least, and he landed in the ditch.

“It is nice to have three good phases at Luhmühlen. He was super and really galloped and jumped well around the cross country.

“We had some time faults in the show jumping but it was a very tight time and a big track and I was making it my priority jumping a nice round and moving forward. I’ll focus a bit more on keeping the speed up a bit.”

Meanwhile, Andrew Nicholson is continuing his recovery from injury as he had two horses in the top 10, with Qwanza securing fifth place and Perfect Stranger in seventh.

Coral Keen, from Little Cheverell, near Devizes, finished in a respectable 15th place on Wellshead Fare Opposition, while fellow Little Cheverell-based Canadian rider Rebecca Howard finished 11th in the CIC 3* event.