Badminton, Gloucestershire, England – It was an influential cross-country day at the 2016 Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials CCI4* with 48 of 75 starters finishing Giuseppe Della Chiesa’s substantial track. Libby Head and Sir Rockstar were the top U.S. combination on Saturday in 33rd place, making light work of the track that caused problems for several veteran pairs.

Head (Talbotton, Ga.) and her own Sir Rockstar looked right at home over the challenging cross-country course at the prestigious venue. Even though they have only completed one CCI4*, Head and the 1998 Thoroughbred gelding easily answered the jumping questions, though collected 27.6 time penalties. The combination climbed 40 places on the leaderboard to sit in 33rd place with a score of 85.4.

“I still really can’t believe it, it hasn’t really sunk in yet, but he felt just awesome and he couldn’t have been better,” Head said. Looking ahead to tomorrow, she added, “He’s actually a really great show jumper overall and he tends to go better after cross-country too, so I think he will come out feeling great, we will see tomorrow. Cross my fingers he can jump clear.”

The two other U.S. combinations did not complete the cross-country course. Buck Davidson (Ocala, Fla.) gave Sherrie Martin’s The Apprentice a solid ride through some sticky moments, but elected to retire at fence 28, the Alexanders Silver Birch, after having a previous runout with the 2004 Irish Sport Horse gelding at fence 23, the Shogun Hollow. Land Rover/USEF Eventing Competition Grant recipient Boyd Martin (Cochranville, Pa.) was having a great round with Lucy Boynton Lie's Cracker Jack until fence 21, the influential KBIS Vicarge Vee, when a miscommunication with the 2003 Thoroughbred gelding resulted in a fall for both horse and rider. Both Martin and Cracker Jack were unharmed.

Michael Jung (GER) had an excellent double-clear cross-country round with La Biosthetique-Sam FBW to remain on their dressage score of 34.4.  Jung seems poised to win Badminton and the Rolex Grand Slam of Eventing with a nine-point lead heading into the final phase. Countryman Andreas Ostholt (GER) added 5.6 time penalties to his score with So Is Et to lie in second on a score of 43.4. Gemma Tattersall (GBR) and Arctic Soul had another one of the 11 double-clear rounds to sit in third place with a score of 44.6

Find out more about the Mitsubishi Motors Badminton Horse Trials CCI4* and watch live on feitv.org.

The USEF International High Performance Programs are generously supported by the USET Foundation, USOC, and USEF Sponsors and Members.