Robert, the individual silver medallist at last year’s World Equestrian Games, has a bright new prospect in the mare, Degina.Robert had expected to be confined to smaller shows after losing the horses that he rode for San Patrignano, but Degina has progressed more swiftly than he thought possible. The 10-year-old has had four foals and was a late starter in show jumping, but she has taken to the sport with alacrity.A strong Irish contingent for the Silk Cut Derby meeting at Hickstead next Sunday was to have included Heather Blaze, with whom Robert Splaine won the King George V Gold Cup last month. But that triumph was followed by disaster when the grey mare fell at the water in the Dublin Grand Prix and broke her near foreleg The vets had no alternative but to put her down.. John Cleland sped his way to a 40-point lead in the British Touring Car Championship yesterday courtesy of a controversial victory at Brand’s Hatch. Halfway through round 19 of the series, Cleland and his fellow championship contender, Rickard Rydell, appeared to touch, the Scotsman surging into the lead as the Swede’s Volvo spun. Rydell slipped to third place as Will Hoy, who won the opening race of the day in his Renault, followed Cleland’s Cavalier through into second place.

His single error at the difficult treble with Midnight Madness was a reasonable effort – as was William Funnell’s round on Comex, who had one jumping mistake and half a time fault.But the two errors from both John Whitaker on Grannusch and Nick Skelton on Showtime did little to suggest that Britain has the right sort of horsepower to win the European team title at St Gallen in Switzerland next month – or the Olympic gold medals next year.The French had a far more encouraging finale to the Dublin meeting. But the Grand Prix performances of the British riders looked mediocre.
Michael Whitaker, who collected 22 of his 24 leading rider points in speed classes with Everest My Mesieur, was sixth (and best of the British) in the Grand Prix. The French riders, Patrice Delaveau and Michel Robert, filled the top two places while none of the British competitors reached the jump-off. Ronnie Massarella, the British team manager, had been heartened by the Nations Cup performance in which Britain finished 0.25 of a fault behind Ireland’s winning team.

Though Michael Whitaker was the leading rider at the Dublin Horse Show, which ended on Saturday, there was not much encouragement to be gleaned for British supporters from the closing Grand Prix. The Irishman Philip Walton, playing in his first event in America, had a 68 yesterday to finish at four under for the tournament.EARLY FINAL PGA SCORESUS unless stated271B Faxon 70 67 71 63274S Lowery 69 68 68 69275P Stewart 69 70 69 67K Triplett 71 69 68 67J Furyk 68 70 69 68276C Strange 72 68 68 68M Campbell (NZ) 71 65 71 69C Rocca (It) 70 69 68 69277J Parnevik (Swe) 69 69 70 69G Norman (Aus) 66 69 70 72278B Mayfair 68 68 72 70L Janzen 66 70 72 70S Stricker 75 64 69 70B Lietzke 73 68 67 70N Henke 68 73 67P Jacobsen 69 67 71 71S Torrance (GB) 69 69 69 71279N Faldo (GB) 69 73 70 67P Azinger 70 70 72 67F Couples 70 69 74 66G Morgan 66 73 74 66D A Weibring 74 68 69 68J M Olazabal (Sp) 72 66 70 71N Ozaki (Japan) 71 70 65 73280P Walton (Irl) 71 70 71 68N Price (Zimb) 71 71 70 68L Clements 67 71 72 70S Lyle (GB) 67 73 69 71281C Beck 66 74 73 68B Crenshaw 68 73 73 67P Senior (Aus) 68 71 74 68G Sauers 69 71 68 73282J Adams 65 76 71 70K Perry 75 67 70 70R Freeman 71 69 70 72B Claar 68 67 73 74283H Irwin 71 68 71 73T Kite 70 69 70 74S Simpson 71 67 71 74284E Dougherty 68 72 74 70T Watson 71 71 72 70S Pate 71 71 71 71P-U Johansson (Swe) 72 69 71 72L Roberts 74 68 71 71285B Lane (GB) 74 68 75 68M Sullivan 72 69 71 73L Wadkins 73 69 71 72286D Pruitt 73 69 72 72.287D Frost (SA) 69 73 72 73J Nicklaus 69 71 71 76288F Zoeller 72 69 75 72289B Kamm 71 66 74 78291C Byrum 71 71 78 71W Defrancesco 69 73 74 75. Resuming at five under par for the championship, he had an eagle three at the first hole and went to the turn in 28.That equalled the previous lowest record for the front nine of a major, set by Denis Durnian in the Open in 1983. Daly, triumphant at St Andrews last month, missed the half-way cut here and nobody expects Wadkins to give him the nod.Maggert and O’Meara could play their way into the team, while Brad Faxon is another contender Faxon made a spectacular start to the fourth round here. There are four or five contenders for the remaining place for the match against the United States in Rochester, New York next month.The US team will be finalised this morning, when Lanny Wadkins announces his two selections to complete the team of 12. Fred Couples and Lee Janzen are favoured to get Wadkins’s vote, which means that the US will play without John Daly, the Open champion.

“I might as well miss them looking good instead of looking funny,” he said.Faldo is expected to receive one of the two wild cards at the disposal of Bernard Gallacher, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain. In a desperate attempt to improve his putting, he resorted to the cack-handed grip, but in the last two rounds here has reverted to the orthodox posture of right hand below left. He was also an also-ran here.Yesterday, he had three birdies over the front nine and finished with a 67. The winner of five majors, he was joint 24th in the Masters, joint 45th in the US Open and joint 40th in the Open at St Andrews.

He holed out from a bunker at the fourth hole and chipped in for an eagle three at the 11th, a hole which represented a three-stroke swing in his favour over his playing partner, O’Meara, but yesterday he was not so fortunate.Els and Faldo both made a sea change this year, leaving the European Tour for the United States. The experiment, which will be renewed next year, has not been a conspicuous success in Faldo’s case. With birdies at the 10th, 11th and 12th, Elkington moved to 17 under. Els suddenly found himself two strokes behind, but a birdie at the 12th, where he holed from 30 feet, kept him in touch.In the third round on Saturday, Els had a few strokes of luck. Els went to the turn in 36, Elkington in 31, and the lead changed hands at the 11th. However, he dropped a shot at the short fourth and was looking over his shoulder – not at Maggert and O’Meara, but at Montgomerie and Elkington.When Els dropped another stroke at the sixth and Elkington birdied the eighth, the Australian was within one stroke of the lead.