Stephen Bradley and Brandenburg’s Joshua took the lead on Thursday morning, April 24, with a score of 50.7. He showed lovely, submissive trotwork that was the most supple and relaxed. He had excellent, square halts and soft, quiet flying changes to impress the ground jury, of Martin Plewa of Germany, Nick Burton of Great Britain and Jo Young of Canada.

Joshua did kick out as he cantered across the short diagonal to E, and the second part of his canter work was a little more tense, but it was an overall lovely test.

Mike Winter of Canada rode into second place on Kingpin, with a 52.6. As they cantered up the centerline at the beginning of the test, Kingpin changed leads a few times, but he quickly relaxed and moved on to solid trot and canter work, scoring mostly 7s and a few 8s.

Phillip Dutton and Boyd Martin are tied for third on a score of 55.0. The atmosphere at an international event is a new experience for Woodburn, who was a bit spooky, but Dutton used his flashy movement to earn a few 8s among scores of mostly 6s and 7s in the trot. He was very obedient in his reinback, scoring a 7 and two 8s. He picked up more 8s in his canter work, although he lost some points in the changes, which weren’t entirely clean.

Neville Bardos’ strength was his canter, including the canter half passes and serpentines, as well as nice changes for Martin, who rides for Australia.

Teddy O’Connor took to the arena first and earned a 58.2 with Karen O’Connor. That puts them in fifth place for the moment.

Teddy didn’t make any major mistakes, and they earned mostly 7s in the shoulder-in to the right, although much of the trot work earned 6s, including the half passes. Teddy was quiet for his halt and reinback, although the halt wasn’t completely square and earned 5s and 6s. The reinback was obedient, for 7s. The judges liked the collected canter and canter half pass to the right. The flying changes weren’t completely clean, earning a 6 and two 4s.

Esker Riada looked very fluid with Cayla Kitayama and had nice lateral work. She had 6s and 7s all through the trot and canter work but lost points in the changes to score 60.0, in sixth.

Dun To A T showed very powerful movement with Jonathan Holling aboard. He earned a 62.8, losing points when he earned 4s for his changes, which were flat, and the last halt also earned 4s and 5s for being too abrupt. They are currently in seventh place.

We have heard, unofficially, that Gina Miles has withdrawn McKinlaigh, who was supposedly a bit colicky on Wednesday. They were scheduled to do their dressage on Friday morning.