An 8:30am start is an early one, but as the first competitor in Thursday's International Prix St George dressage event, Australian Olympic hopeful Heath Ryan says, "someone has to go first".
Luckily for him, his horse DP Christopher obviously relished the early morning start, and according to Ryan "rode the ride of his life" in achieving the "awesome" score of 64.000.
Ryan had an even better result with his second ride in the same event at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre on German-bred horse Donna Carrera. The pleased rider said, "She was herself the entire time, everything you saw was Donna. However, that doesn't stop you worrying when you're out there that if you ride better, the horse will ride better. But as far as the horse is concerned, I am over the moon."
His test on Donna Carrera scored 66.667 left him leading the competition with six competitors remaining, ahead of his wife, and arch rival, Rozzie Ryan on Greenoaks Legend (65.750) in second place and Ryan's earlier mark with DP Christopher in third.
Rozzie Ryan thought the performance of Greenoaks Legend was "a little tense, but other than that there weren't many mistakes" in the test. Ryan, the husband, will be hoping that German-bred gelding Greenoaks Legend has his mind fully on the job on Friday afternoon as he takes over the saddle from his wife and competes for vital Olympic qualifying points in the International Grand Prix de Dressage Competition.