America's second rider was Judy Garofalo and Oliver III (pictured below left) and the jumped a faultless first round finishing clear on jumping and time but in the second round a foot in the water cost them four faults and when the final fence fell they left the arena with 8 faults in round two.

Italy were next to go and this time it was Luca Carini and D'Artagnan's (pictured below right) turn to take a trip around the course and they came back with just four faults in round one when 4b hit the deck but in roudn two the horse started to look a little weary after jumping this huge track and they finished with 8 faults in round two after fences 7c and 11 tumbled.

Richard Davenport was second out for Great Britain with Luc (pictured below left) and they had the penultimate fence down in round one but things fell apart a little in round two when they lowered 7b, 10, 11 and 12 to leave the arena with 16 faults and the drop score.

Germany's Eva Bitter and Agelith Stakato did not enjoy their first round I would guess after lowering fences 4b, 7b, 7c and 11 but they improved hugeoy in round two coming home with just four faults at fence 10 - pictured below right over fence 7c

And so we come to the third line riders and things start to get interesting - Bert Prouve for Belgium just had fence 11 down in round one but rund two proved a little more difficult for Reggi Roosters van Betz and they came home carrying 12 faults at fences 6, 10 and 11 and becoming the second round drop score.

France pulled out a second clear round for round two with Christian Hermon and Ephebe For Ever Ecolit which saw them sitting with two clear and an

8 fault round combined with a first round final score of 8 faults so they were definitely going to be looking for a clear from their fourth line rider.

The USA's Lauren Hough and Clasiko followed up their first round score of 8 faults with a following 8 faults in round two when they dropped 6 in both rounds and in round one followed up with lowering 7b, the tall vertical and in round two they lowered fence 8, which was on the way to the water - they were in fact, the only combination to have this rail in round two.

Italy again didn't have an easy time on course when Alessi Marioni and Askoll Peter Pan followed up their 4 fault first round with a 12 fault round when fences 6, 7c and 10 tumbled.

The arena went wild yet again when Jessica Kurten, who now lives on the continent, and Quibell entered the arena - Jessica is another of the Irish riders who has made Olympic selection and heads for Athen snext week. Jessica improved on her four fault first round with a super clear round in round 2 giving Ireland two clears in round two and a four faulter - they were looking good!

Pictured left is the troublesome fence 6 Clocks which saw a related distance following of 7 strides tot he treble of oxer/vertical/oxer.

Pictured below we see the double of ditches which were 4a and 4b which didn't cause as many problems as you would have perhaps expected as they were jumping into the crowds - but it did have its fair share of victims!

Pictured left we see fence 2 - the Molly Malone fence and it only claimed 1 victim and that was in round one - it had a lovely approach coming off the rising oxer at fence 1 and rode really well for everyone bar one!

Pictured below - Ireland's Jessica Kurten and Quibell flying over fence 7c.

Great Britain's third line rider was Scott Smith and Cabri d'Elle and after a first round which saw just the one fence lowered they had a less than perfect second round when they came through the finish flags with fences 7b, 10, 11 and 12 lying on the ground for 16 faults and the drop score.

Germany's Rene Tebbel and Farina 581 finished up

the class with an 8 fault first round and a four fault second round and Roelof Bril and Billy Orange for The Netherlands clocked up 12 faults in round one when fences 4a, 7a and 10 came down but round two saw then pull out a perfect round with all fences in place when they came through the finish flags giving The Netherlands their first clear round for the class.

And so as we went to the fourth line riders things looked interesting with plenty of pressure on these fourth riders.