Equestrianism: Funnell and Fox-Pitt to lead Britain's charge for medals

The horse world's biggest-ever extravaganza gets under way this evening at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, where King Juan Carlos will attend the opening ceremony for the fourth running of the World Equestrian Games. Some of the 800 horses from 53 nations are already installed in the stables at Chapin, a renovated sports complex in Jerez that will be the nerve centre of the giant enterprise that brings together seven equestrian disciplines: three-day eventing, dressage, show jumping, endurance riding, driving, vaulting and the newcomer sport of reining.

British participation involves 48 competitors with 54 horses, travelling by various routes to the sherry capital of the world to contest all seven disciplines. Win or lose, they can expect well-organised competitions and excellent facilities, for the Spaniards have had four years of careful planning in their determination to make these Games the best staged. Finance, which has been rocky at previous fixtures, is well provided with government backing and six main commercial sponsors – among them Rolex and Volvo, who have a long association with equestrian sport. If flaws are uncovered in the running of the great fiesta, it will be a serious disappointment.

Britain's three-day event riders will carry similarly great expectations after filling the top three places at both Badminton and Burghley this year. They will not, however, have forgotten that New Zealand were red-hot favourites when they went to the World Games at The Hague in 1994, having taken four of the top five places at Badminton. The Kiwi team, nevertheless, dropped out of contention in dramatic style when all three of their best-known riders – Mark Todd, Blyth Tait and Andrew Nicholson – had cross-country falls. They left the British, who had gone there as underdogs, to win the team title.

Given that essential bit of luck, Britain must have an excellent chance of recapturing the team championship – and of claiming the individual gold medal through either Pippa Funnell, the European champion, or William Fox-Pitt, who was runner-up to her at Badminton. Tait, who defends the individual title he won four years ago on Ready Teddy, will be an obvious danger – as will David O'Connor, the Olympic champion from the United States, and the two Hoys: the triple Olympic team gold medallist Andrew Hoy, who rides for Australia, and his wife, Bettina, who wears a German flag on her lapel. New Zealand, Australia and the United States are likely to challenge Britain for the team title.

The three-day event begins on Thursday with the first of two days of dressage, before a convoy of lorries transports the horses to the military stud at Garrapilos, where Britain's Mike Tucker has designed the cross-country course that will be tackled on Saturday. The convoy then makes the return journey to Chapin for the final show jumping on Sunday.

Britain will not only be aiming for medals, they will also be looking for Olympic qualification in the three relevant disciplines, which means finishing among the top four in eventing, the top five in show jumping and the top eight in dressage. Although there are limited opportunities to qualify next year, the British Olympic Association will have reservations about sanctioning teams (and providing lottery funding) for those who fail to make the grade in Spain.

Qualification may be the best that the dressage team can hope for – although the four selected riders have achieved personal best scores this year and are creeping ever nearer to challenging for medals. The show jumpers have also set Olympic qualification, rather than medals, as their target. They have shown some improved form this year despite various problems, which included a broken collar-bone for Tim Stockdale as he prepares to realise his life-long ambition to ride in a championship team.

Derek Ricketts, who took over as world class performance manager in January, is nevertheless confident that the team will be in good shape when they leave their Spanish training camp at Montimideo and travel to Jerez next weekend. "Tim has broken his collar-bone four times before, so he's fully aware of what's required," Ricketts said.

For only the second time in 23 years, the show jumpers will be without either of the Whitaker brothers. The driving team, however, still includes the durable George Bowman, who has been silver medallist on twice previously and would dearly love to go one better. Now 68, Bowman proved that he still retains his old flair when winning the final trial at Henbury Hall by a convincing margin.

Like the drivers, British endurance riders believe that they have a sneaking chance of collecting medals at the end of their marathon 100-mile race, which follows a clover-leaf route with each loop bringing them back to the central veterinary checkpoint. But for British competitors in reining and vaulting, both Cinderella sports in this country, no rewards are expected apart from experience gained and the fun of taking part.