Equestrianism: Funnell confident of Badminton repeat

Victory in Kentucky, albeit by a close shave, will have put Pippa Funnell in a confident frame of mind as she attempts to become the first rider to achieve consecutive wins in the Badminton Horse Trials since Ian Stark in 1988.

Funnell rides two horses; Cornerman, who does his dressage this morning, plus last year's winner and the dual European champion, Supreme Rock, who will draw an expectant crowd to the arena tomorrow afternoon.

If she holds the lead on the 15-year-old after Saturday's cross-country (as she did last year when she was out in front from start to finish) Funnell will not need reminding that each second over the time in the show jumping incurs an expensive penalty. In the Kentucky Rolex Three-Day Event last Sunday she picked up six time penalties in this final phase on Primmore's Pride and only prevailed over Polly Stockton on Tangleman by having been closer to the optimum time across country. "I definitely got a bit hooky and wasted time to the last few fences," Funnell said. "I was very relieved when I realised that I'd just made it."

This will be the first Badminton for the 11-year-old Cornerman, who finished fifth at Burghley in 2001, but missed the two four-star British events last year. He would have run at Badminton but for Funnell injuring her leg in a fall and deciding that she would ride Supreme Rock only and was withdrawn after the dressage at Burghley having been named reserve for the World Games.

William Fox-Pitt, the runner-up at Badminton last year, may be the main threat to Funnell's chance of another victory. But she will also be keeping a sharp eye open for a few other Britons as well. Stockton, who was second at Burghley last year, should again be in contention with Mark Todd's two former mounts; Eye Spy II and Word for Word. Leslie Law will be eager to improve on his second and third placings with Shear H20 in 2000 and 2002, while Jeanette Brakewell and Over to You, winners of the individual silver medal at the World Games last September, is expected to show that last year's cross-country fall was a one-off.

Among the overseas competitors, the once-dominant New Zealanders – notably Andrew Nicholson and Blyth Tait – will be out to prove that their country is still to be reckoned with, while the durable Bruce Davidson will be keen to avenge the drubbing that the United States riders received at British hands in Kentucky.

Davidson, now 53, first rode at the Gloucestershire event in 1974 when he finished third on Irish Cap; he had become a familiar figure by the time he rode Eagle Lion to victory there in 1995.