AACHEN, Germany--Great Britain leads on 72.8 following the Dressage phase of the FEI Eventing World Championship in Aachen on Friday, Aug. 14.

Tamra Smith on Lillet 3 (Photo by Allen MacMillan)Laura Collett on London 52 had Great Britain’s best score of the competition, 22.8, while Ros Canter and Lordships Graffalo added 23.4.

Those scores, combined with Tom McEwen and JL Dublin’s overnight 26.6, leave the Brits in prime position heading into Saturday’s Cross-Country phase, as Gemma Stevens and Flash Cooley’s 29.3 is discarded.

Host nation Germany is close behind on 73.6 penalties after moving into second place, with France sitting third on 84.5.

 

INDIVIDUALLY, Julia Krajewski of Germany on Uelzener’s Nickel leads individually with a score of 22.0.

William Coleman on Diablo (Phoo by Allen MacMillan)Collett is second, followed by Michael Jung of Germany on fischerChipmunk FRH, third on 23.0.

The U.S. team of Will Coleman on Diabolo, Boyd Martin on Cooley Nutcracker, Caroline Pamukcu on HSH Blake and Phillip Dutton on Denim is sixth on 93.2.

There are 16 teams competing.

Individually, Tamie Smith on Lillet, competing as an individual, is eighth on 27.0, Coleman is 21st on 30.0, Martin in 25th on 30.9, Pamukcu is 36th on 32.2, and Dutton is 38th of the 87 competitors on 32.6.

"Lillet is so young to be doing something like this," said Smith of the10-year-old mare."You don't know what she's going to do, but she was like a seasoned pro."

"Her trot work was brilliant," said Smith."She's such a special horse. I'm so proud of her."

Boyd Martin on Cooley Nutcracker (Photo by Allen MacMillan)"Some things were good,, but I had a hard time putting it all together today," said Coleman "We did the best we could. It was his first championship. There was not a lot of time during the test to give him a moment to relax."

"I was pretty pleased with the ride," said Martin." There were one or two moments that I'd like to redo, but overall very pleased with it. He's a quirky horse, but when you go into the ring he's all business."

It's a very challenging cross country course," said Martin, "It's winding and goes back and forth, and that is energy sapping."

It is also expected to be hot again, which will be challenging.

The temperature today was in the high 90s.

Attention now turns to Saturday’s Cross-Country phase, where 42 jumping efforts across Giuseppe Della Chiesa’s Championship track stand between the combinations and the next potential shake-up of the leaderboard.

Cross-Country gets under way at 09:15, which is 3:15 Eastern,  on Saturday.