Tait doubles his chances

EQUESTRIANISM

Blyth Tait, who won the global section of the Land Rover World Rankings last year, will be hoping to open his account for 1995 when he competes at the Toyota Bramham Three-Day Event which begins today in Yorkshire, writes Genevieve Murphy.

Having been forced to withdraw from the Badminton and Windsor three-day events because of problems with his horses, Tait has yet to acquire any points towards this year's rankings. The New Zealander should get off the mark at Bramham, where he rode Aspyring to victory last year. This time he has two nine-year-old mounts: Chesterfield and Darby.

William Fox-Pitt, who was in the lead at Badminton until Chaka failed the last horse inspection, will be hoping for better fortune this weekend. He also has two mounts - the 11-year- old Loch Alan and Cosmopolitan, who is eight.

Ian Stark, who was runner-up last year on Kilcoran, will attempt to go one better on the eight-year-old Forest Glen. The Scot is already short- listed for September's European Open Championships.

WORLD THREE-DAY EVENT RANKINGS (Standings in global section): 1 B Davidson (US) 311pts; 2 M Ryan (Aus) 181; 3 A Nicholson (NZ) 169; 4 M Thomson (GB) 146; 5 K Gifford (GB) 120; 6 K O'Connor (US) 108.