Equestrianism: Smith becomes trailblazer for British hopes

Scott Smith will be first to go for the Great Britain team when he rides Cabri d'elle in his first Aachen Nations Cup today. This is a position that the 28-year-old Yorkshireman would be happy to swap, since he would prefer to see how the course is riding before he sets out to tackle it – but he will abide by the wishes of chef d'équipe Derek Ricketts. Smith was also the pathfinder in Lisbon, where the team won their only Nations Cup this year, and their first since an unexpected victory here two years ago.

"Scott's horse is fast,'' Ricketts said. "We don't have a chance to study how tight the time is at that stage, so it's good to have him going first.'' The effect of the time allowed will be more obvious for Smith's three team-mates: Mark Armstrong, who goes second on Elise, followed by Richard Davenport on Grand Marnier and Tim Stockdale on Parcival.

Michael Whitaker will be watching from the stands. Handel II, the most talented of his mounts, jumped far better than in recent outings when making a single error in the first round of yesterday's Nordrhein-Westfalen Preis. Whitaker was delighted with the improved performance, but he did not want to face the challenge of Aachen's Nations Cup with the stallion so soon after he had regained his form. Ricketts was happy to go along with Whitaker's wishes, especially as Handel is back in the reckoning for a place in September's World Equestrian Games.

Germany filled the top two places for the Nordrhein-Westfalen Preis. The contest was won by the European champion Ludger Beerbaum on Goldfever, who finished 0.3sec ahead of this year's World Cup winner, Otto Becker on Landy. Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson filled third place on Innovation, with the relatively new partnership of Ireland's Peter Charles and Jerome a close fourth.