Wood on the verge of Maiden CCI3* victory

It's still early days but West Australian Makayla Wood is on the verge of winning her first CCI3* three-day event after a strong performance in today's cross country at the Sydney International Horse Trials.

All that stands between Wood and the title is Sunday's show jumping and the 23 year old has a tidy nine penalty buffer between nearest rival Isabel English (Qld). With each fallen show jumping pole equal to four penalties, it means Wood could have two rails down and still win the title.

In today's Cross Country, Wood and her mare Early Days produced the round of the day in the CCI3*, adding just six time penalties to their score. It catapulted them from sixth position into the lead and they'll enter the show jumping decider with a score of 61.40 penalties.

"The going was really tough and she did get a bit tired but she wanted to just keep travelling, so I let her travel as much as I could. She tried very hard for me," said Wood.

"I wanted to come home safe first of all and second of all I wanted to come home with a qualifier (to be eligible to compete at the next level) so I've done both of those things and I'm really happy.

"Now it's a matter of making sure she is ok and giving her a good recovery, hopefully we show jump well tomorrow," she said.

Early leader, Olympian Heath Ryan, added 20 penalties to his score after his horse Aspire R refused a fence in the second half of the course. He is now in sixth place.

Shaun Dillon and his warmblood GV ANZAC were second coming into the cross country but the pair became unstuck at one of the final fences which resulted in their elimination.

The changes to the top order have opened the door for some of Australia's up and coming riders to stake their claim on the Sydney CCI3* title. Isabel English and Feldale Mouse have moved from third into second and will carry 71 penalties into the show jumping, while 24 year old Elizabeth Lowery (NSW) and KL Kismet occupy third place and have 77.30 penalties.

In the CCI2*, Olympian Shane Rose (Purbeck Diesel) is in second place after 21 year old Hayley Frielick (NSW) and her horse My Happiness produced a clear cross country round which moved them from 10th position into the lead. Tim Boland remains in third position with Napoleon, while Christine Bates and her horse Ned O'Reilly are in fourth.

Christine Bates and Brightnight remain in the lead in the CCI1* after adding four time penalties to her dressage score.

Results

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