The trade stands were buzzing today which is not surprising as the shopping experience at Burghley is second to none. Food, fashion, furniture – you name it, if it is vaguely associated with the country lifestyle, you’ll find it here. Many people simply come here to shop – for the general admission of 14 pounds you can shop till you drop, grab a meal from the many food stalls, watch the dressage on the large screen in the pavilion area and have a very enjoyable day out. For an idea of the great products and party atmosphere in the Trade Village here, check out the photos in the Photo Gallery 

For the dressage fans there was plenty to enjoy today too. Most of the top guns had their second ride today; Oliver Townend improved his ranking by two places by going into =16^th on Imperial Master, William Fox-Pitt on Neuf des Coeurs equalled Sam Griffiths’ score of 45.5 to go into =10^th place, Andrew Nicholson grabbed 4^th place on Nereo and Mary King on Kings Temptress ended the day in 3^rd place. Last year’s winner, Caroline Powell and Lenamore – a horse that reminds me of Megan Jones’ Kirby Park Irish Jester – had an error of course but scored 42.8 to share =5^th spot with Andrew Nicholson’s first ride, Avebury.

Among the other riders who attracted a lot of attention was the newlywed Zara Phillips who recently married English rugby captain, Mike Tindall. Zara finished the day =14^th on High Kingdom. During one of the celebrity interviews held in the large outdoor interview area, she was asked by a one of the crowd if she had a lucky mascot, to which the interviewer quickly quipped that “Yes she does, but he’s in New Zealand playing rugby”; there were also a few laughs about the ‘roving mike’ being handed around the audience. Zara has a great personality and sense of humour and is a wonderful ambassador for the sport in England which is currently on an all-time high.

Another country on a real high in the sport at the moment is New Zealand.  Although Mark Todd is running an uncharacteristic =46^th after the dressage, his compatriot Andrew Nicholson is in a great position to take the lead tomorrow on one of his two mounts, Nereo and Avebury, currently lying 4^th and =5^th. Andrew is renowned for his stickability and expertise on big courses and he will use all of his skill tomorrow on a course which he describes as “A long course requiring a lot of forward thinking. The first half of the course has a lot of serious jumping and the second half has a lot of galloping so riders will need to be considerate of their horse and make sure they have enough gas in the tank to complete”. New Zealander Caroline Powell will also be looking to try and emulate her win last year

It was not such a successful day for the Australian riders. Dressage specialist, Lucinda Fredericks scored well for her riding of Prada but had an error of course and finished in 43^rd place and Bill Levett performed a very solid test for 31^st place on Political Trump. The best placed Australian rider, Sam Griffiths on Happy Times finished just inside the top 10 on 45.5, in equal 10^th place with William Fox-Pitt on Neuf des Coeurs.

The stand out test of the day came from the leader going into the cross country, German rider Simone Dietermann on Free Easy NRW. Despite a beautiful test, this combination only beat William Fox-Pitt and Parklane Hawk into 2^nd place by 0.4 penalties so William must be cursing his error of course yesterday.

Less than 10 penalties separate the top 20 combinations in the field so there will no doubt be a lot of movement in the leader board tomorrow. For an idea of what the riders will face, here is a preview of some elements of the course, including the Cottesmore Leap which is causing a stir at 1m 45 – the fence that course designer Capt. Mark Phillips says is ‘the biggest thing he’s seen on a cross country course’