No luck for Nicola in tough Burghley test

The event was tragically marred by the death of Cheshire rider Caroline Pratt, one of the country's top eventers, after a cross-country fall on her horse Primitive Streak.

Nicola was riding the 15.2hh bay Skiver for owner Lady Milnes Coates and the pair made a reasonable start, lying midfield of the 89 starters after the opening dressage phase, on a respectable 57.64 penalties.

They then faced the long 28-fence cross-country course, where holding going due to the heavy rain that preceded the event proved tiring for some of the horses, who had to tackle roads and tracks and steeplechase phases beforehand.

"Skiver went beautifully cross-country, but just ran out of puff towards the end of the course," Nicola explained.

"He went into the last water complex, two fences from home, and was struggling, so I pulled him up.

"He had been suffering from a virus earlier in the season and perhaps he had not quite recovered from this."

The horse will now have a holiday and Nicola hopes to bring him back to tackle Britain's other four star challenge, at the Badminton three-day event next spring.

She has been in good form this summer and won an intermediate section at the Thirlestane Castle Scottish Championships last month.

This was on Don't Under Estimate, a seven-year-old bay mare, and Nicola also finished third in another intermediate section on Endeavour, her partner of less than 18 months.

Nicola went on to finish ninth in one of the top sections, the CIC** at Thirlestane, on another seven-year-old, Opposition Buzz.

She also went well at the Blair Castle three-day event in Scotland recently, taking fourth spot in the three star three-day event on Highland Loch II.

"I was very pleased with Highland Loch at Blair," Nicola added.

"He can do a better dressage test but he did enough to finish fourth, and he was also fourth in the British Intermediate Championships at the Festival of Eventing at Gatcombe."