Dressage leader Oliver Townend is the fourth rider to start, at 11.42am, on Cillnabradden Evo. Oliver also lies second on Ballaghmor Class, who heads out of the box at 4.18pm, one of the last to go.
The cross-country kicks off at 11.30am, with Pippa Funnell and Majas Hope (equal 20th after dressage) the first pair to try out Eric Winter’s cross-country course. Pippa is holding in a better position with Billy Walk On, in fifth, and he runs at the end of the day at 4.38pm.
Riders start out on the course at four-minute intervals and the optimum time is 11 minutes 45 seconds.
Tom McEwen sits in third and he will head out at 1.38pm on Toledo De Kerser, the horse on whom he was part of the gold medal-winning team at the World Equestrian Games last year.
Badminton final scores
Piggy French, fourth after dressage on Vanir Kamira, will begin her round at 12.58pm.
With Britain holding the top eight places after dressage, the best-placed rider who is not from the home side is Chris Burton, who is ninth with Graf Liberty. He starts at 12.06pm.
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H&Hfirst-timer blogger David Britnell will make his Badminton cross-country debut at 2.46pm, riding Continuity.
The first of the debutants to take to the course will be Emma Hyslop-Webb, who is third out of the start box on Waldo III at 11.38am. She is also the last rider to set out, on her second horse Pennlands Douglas, at 4.46pm.
Read an interview with Badminton first-timer Katie Preston and a horse hero on Laura Collett’s ride Mr Bass in the current issue of H&H (dated 2 May), plus full form guide for every horse and rider.
Our bumper 25-page Badminton report will be in our 9 May issue, including opinion from Mark Phillips and Peter Storr.
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
