Stamford, England—Sept. 5 

Scores are tight at the top of the leaderboard after dressage at the Land Rover Burghley CCI****, but Jonathan Paget and Clifton Promise will go into tomorrow’s cross-country test in pole position.

“It wasn’t a difficult decision to come here,” explained Paget, who rerouted to Burghley after a disappointing start to the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in France last weekend. “When New Zealand [team] hopes were no longer alive and I had a run-out early on the course, I decided I wanted to bring him here. My aim at the WEG was to become world champion. I tried my best, but it didn’t work out. I wasn’t going to keep going for the sake of coming 20th.”

Last into the arena before this morning’s coffee break, Paget rode Frances Stead and Russell Hall’s 16-year-old gelding to a mistake-free test and a score of 38.8.

“He’s a sensational horse; such a professional,” said Paget.

Of Capt. Mark Phillips’ cross-country test, he said: “You can never respect the course at Burghley enough. There are plenty of places where it would be easy to have a cheeky 20 penalties if you’re not careful.”

Britain’s William Fox-Pitt clocked the only other sub-40 test with Catherine Witt’s Bay My Hero (39.5). The 11-year-old gelding’s test was flowing, consistent and calm and showed none of the over-exuberance he had displayed at Wednesday’s trot-up, when his antics included standing bolt upright on his hind legs and threatening to escape from his rider’s grasp.

“He certainly made his mark in the trot-up. He’s been dying to get going, and it’s been a long wait for him [until Friday afternoon],” said Fox-Pitt. “But ultimately he wants to get on with it, and he’s a real showman who wants to please. His marks have been in the mid- to low-40s before, but the 40 barrier is a great one to break. He felt stronger and more established in his work, and he deserved that mark.”

Fox-Pitt highlighted the four-element Land Rover Trout Hatchery (fences 13 and 14) as the area on tomorrow’s course he expects to be particularly influential.

“Taken on their own, the individual questions in that combination are not difficult,” he said. “But the fences are highly related, and I think you will see some people make it look very smooth, and others make it look very messy.”

Yesterday’s leader Sam Griffiths of Australia has slipped to third with Happy Times on 40.2 penalties.

“I think the winner will be right up there after the dressage, but you will need an exceptionally good horse to jump around this track,” Griffiths said. “I think the time will be gettable, but you’ll need to be going darn quick.”

Hannah Sue Burnett was the only U.S. rider to go today, and she and Harbour Pilot cruised to a score of 48.5 to stand 14th.

Allison Springer and Arthur, who performed their test yesterday, still stand as the top-placed U.S. pair, in sixth (41.2). Marilyn Little and RF Demeter are close behind in 10th on 47.5 penalties.

Meghan O’Donoghue has begun her Burghley debut with Pirate on a solid score of 54.2 penalties, and they’ll head into their favorite phase standing 30th out of 65 starters.

Tomorrow’s cross-country will start at 11:30 a.m., and the first combination on the course will be Sarah Bullimore and Valentino V.

For the full results and starting order, click here. Want to take a tour of the cross-country course? You can do so here.