Zara Phillips begins the defence of her European three-day event title today — and with it the completion of her qualification for the Beijing Olympic Games — in the hilltop setting of Pratoni del Vivaro, the home of the Italian Equestrian Federation, south of Rome, that was built to stage the equestrian events at the 1960 Olympics.

Phillips, who added the title of world champion to her crown last year, heads the Great Britain team who are attempting to win a seventh successive gold medal. Daisy Dick, with Springalong, will go first in the team, Oliver Townend and Flint Curtis second, Phillips and Toytown third — to give her the best chance of individual success — and Mary King, the most experienced rider, will go last with Call Again Cavalier.

Yogi Breisner, the team manager, is confident that these riders can continue Britain’s unrivalled record in the championships. “I could not wish for a better team,” he said. “It doesn’t help that we have won so many times in a row because sooner or later it means we’re going to lose one, but these are all good riders on experienced horses who have shown they are more than capable of doing the job.”

Phillips, who had hoped to qualify for Beijing at Badminton but withdrew because of the hard ground, has shrugged off any pressure. “I just feel excited at the prospect of defending my title,” she said.

Phillips has two British role models to inspire her. Ginny Elliot won three European titles in succession (in 1985, 1987 and 1989) and Pippa Funnell, the only back-to-back winner with the same horse, won on Supreme Rock in 1997 and 1999.

Toytown, who in common with all the Britain horses is leaner than usual in preparation for the hilly, stamina-sapping cross country on Saturday, started the season with his customary overexuberance but comes to Italy after two superb runs, in Aachen, Germany, in July and Highclere, Berkshire, last month. “I’m careful where I run him now before a big event,” Phillips said. “As he gets older he knows what is going on and doesn’t like performing unless it really matters.”

With qualification for Beijing at stake, Phillips is hoping that the gelding’s antennae are razor-sharp this week. Although she has until next June to qualify, she is keen to get it “out of the way”.

King, who made a memorable first appearance in Pratoni del Vivaro at the 1995 European Championships when she won an individual bronze medal when five months’ pregnant, has had a superb run-up to these championships. Call Again Cavalier, on which she won a team silver at the World Championships last year, won at Chatsworth, Derbyshire, in May before going on to take the British Open title at Gatcombe, Gloucestershire, last month.

Dick and Townend have had ups and downs this season. Townend’s chequered season has included a fall at Gatcombe with Flint Curtis and a superb win at Thirlestane, in the Scottish Borders. Dick, who was also in the world silver medal-winning team, had her “blip” in Luhmühlen, Germany, in June when Springalong “shot past a couple of fences”. But this was the partnership’s first cross-country mistake in ten years and Breisner told Dick “to pretend it never happened”.

There will be no room for mistakes this week. Competition, fuelled by Olympic aspirations, will be intense. France, the Olympic champions, and Germany, the world champions, are the main threats to Britain.

Great Britain team

Spring Along (D Dick), Flint Curtis (O Townend), Toytown (Z Phillips), Call Again Cavalier (M King)

Individuals

Fachoudette (G Davies) and Langarth D’Arcy (R Powell)

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