Piggy French (GBR) galloped through pouring rain on her appropriately named 10-year-old Irish gelding Flying Machine to take the lead after Cross-Country at Luhmühlen, presented by E.ON Avacon (GER), the third leg of the HSBC FEI Classics™.

The leaderboard has changed substantially and now the cost of just one Jumping fence covers the top four riders, ensuring a thrilling day’s sport tomorrow. French is highly competent in this phase, but she has no margin for error if she is to score her longed-for first CCI4* victory.

“I have not managed to run the horse as often as you would like to before a four-star, but the shock treatment seems to have worked!”, said French. “I am very excited about how he coped with it all. I am lucky to have many lovely horses to ride and when you have a day like this, it’s a bonus. The rain was unbelievable, and my gloves were heavy with water so I got rid of them, but it was no better without them!”

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