Michael Jung, the Olympic and triple European three-day-event champion, marched into the lead after the first day of dressage at the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials yesterday.
Jung, 33, who is in line for the $350,000 Rolex Grand Slam bonus if he succeeds this week, performed a superb test on La Biosthetique-Sam, the winner of Burghley last year, to finish on 34.4 penalty points, nearly four ahead of Andreas Ostholt, his fellow German, on So Is Et, who is in second place.
Francis Whittington, of Britain, on a much-improved Hasty Imp, who was 35th after the dressage last year, is in third place on 40.0.
“I came here with no expectations,” Whittington said. “I just went out and did the best I could.”
Jung, who won Kentucky, the second leg of the Slam, last Sunday on Fischerrocana FST, was delighted with his test having had a difficult preparation. “The ground was too soft earlier in the week to gallop so he was becoming very tense,” he said of his 16-year-old gelding. Despite the bonus, he hopes to ride tomorrow’s demanding cross-country course as if it were a “normal” event.
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The order may be reshuffled today when top partnerships, including Zara Tindall on High Kingdom, perform their dressage tests.