Anne’s horse little nervous

Press, 24 July 1976, Page 8

Anne’s horse little nervous

NZPA Bromont All eyes were on a seriouslooking Princess Anne yesterday when she entered the Olympics dressage arena and fulfilled her ambition to represent Britain in the Montreal Games. The stands were packed and photographers crowded every possible vantage point to ensure that the world got a chance to see how well a member of the Royal Family can ride. The Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Andrew arrived about 15 minutes before she entered the ring. Officials claimed that the Princess is being treated like other competitors, but there was a special announcement of the Dime she would be riding. The amphitheatre at the Olympic equestrian

centre, 76 kilometres from Montreal, buzzed with the whirr and clicks of cameras as the Princess, dressed in top hat and tails, started her eight-minute performance. Her horse, Goodwill, did not seem to relish the attention and twice broke his gait to give her a score of 71 from a possible 144, with 91.25 penalty points. The tense atmosphere before the Princess’s appearance obviously had its effect on the first competitor of the afternoon, Merv Bennet, of Australia. Riding the aptlynamed Regal Reign, he scored 47.33, giving him 120.84 penalty points. The best score of the day was turned in by a German horseman, Otto Ammermann, with 97 points, giving him 58.75 penalty points. The dressage event, which tests a rider’s control of his horse, is- the first section of the three-day event. At the end of the day the United States had nudged ahead of the 11 other nations to take the lead. However, the. West German, Russian and! British teams are close! behind and as most coun-! tries choose their horses oni an endurance and not a; dressage basis, the lead is i not significant. The cross-: country or endurance test! will be held on Saturday. 1