Britain in bronze medal position in European Dressage Championships

Britain finished the first day of the Alltech European Dressage Championships at Windsor in the bronze medal position after the first two of their four riders, Carl Hester and Maria Eilberg finished in the top 10.

Hester and Libeling II are in third place after scoring 71.277 per cent, while Eilberg and Two Sox are in ninth place with 69.362 per cent. The other two members of the team, Laura Bechtolsheimer on Mistral Hojris and Emma Hindle on Lancet compete today.

Dressage is historically the Cinderella discipline in equestrianism but the squad have been confident of medal delivery on home soil. They are only two per cent behind title defenders Germany, though Holland have taken their anticipated clear lead.

Despite numerous team appearances and national titles, Hester, 43, has never won a medal. He has been riding Liebling for just 10 months. "It suddenly fell to pieces last week and I panicked," Hester said. "Richard Davison [team trainer] simply said 'give the horse a few days off', which is not what you'd normally do on the eve of a championship. Clearly, it's worked."

The concurrent show jumping championships commence on Wednesday. The quartet who staved off Nations Cup relegation earlier this month at Dublin – Ben Maher, Tim Stockdale, Geoff Billington and Peter Charles – were confirmed as Britain's team following Tuesday's horse inspection.