Gary Parsonage gained his second success in the Ford Ranger Eventing Grand Prix - a mixed showjumping and cross-country event - at Hickstead in West Sussex yesterday after a thrilling performance on Peter Street in which he relegated Emilie Chandler, last year's winner, on Kelly Moss to second place by 2.27sec.

“I thought his credentials would suit the competition and saved him specially for it,” Parsonage, the winner in 1999, said of Peter Street.

Charlotte Platt, 22, makes her debut today in the Samsung Super League Nations Cup, the main event of the Longines Royal International Horse Show, when she competes alongside Geoff Luckett, Duncan Inglis and Michael Whitaker in the Britain team who will attempt to win back the cup from the United States. Platt, the winner of a team gold medal at the Young Riders European Championships last year, earned her place after a superb performance in the Lisbon Nations Cup this year.

Whitaker, whose Olympic horse, Portofino, is under close observation after a run of poor form, will ride Wonami van den Aard today. The Olympic team horses - including the two reserve horses, Nick Skelton's Russel and Tim Gredley's Omelli - go into quarantine tomorrow in Essex. Although only five horses will fly to Hong Kong, where the Olympic equestrian events are being held, on August 4, Derek Ricketts, the team manager, said that he is taking no chances.

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