Lucinda Fredericks (left) trotted to the front of the pack on the first day of dressage at the Badminton CCI**** (England) with a score of 34.8 aboard Headley Britannia.
The other riders may be pressing the Fredericks family for their secrets since Clayton Fredericks, Lucinda’s husband, just won the Rolex Kentucky CCI**** last week with Ben Along Time, and Lucinda was last year’s Burghley CCI**** (England) winner with “Brit.”
Jean-Lou Bigot of France stands 7 points behind Lucinda in second place (41.8) with Icare d’Auzay over Andrew Nicholson of New Zealand and Henry Tankerville (45.2)
Jan Byyny (right) was the only U.S. rider to go today. She finished in 24th place with Task Force, scoring 54.8 penalties.
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The riders said they thought the time would be quite hard to make on cross-country this year, especially as there are some concerns about the hard footing following a very dry April. “I will be going hard and fast because that is the way Brit likes to be ridden,” said Lucinda.
Clayton will have his chance tomorrow to prove that his wife’s not the only one who can do dressage. He’ll be cantering into the arena aboard Nullabor, but he’ll find stiff competition as many other eventing heavyweights have yet to go including reigning world champion Zara Phillips and Toytown, as well as U.S. riders Kim Severson and Gina Miles.
Photos by Anthony Trollope/EWB News
