“From the first time she won I always thought that she might be quite good. I have always wanted to win the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham but to win this race named after her is so exciting.”When Misty Eyed won her first race she was terribly green and her ears were going all over the shop. I felt then she could improve.”Dutfield expressed her delight for the winner’s owner and for the jockey Lee Newman. “Her owner, Jan Fuller, has been very loyal to me and has been with us since I started training. I am so thrilled for her, for everyone at home and for Lee who has been riding out of his skin for us.”Mark Johnston, the trainer of the runner-up Bouncing Bowdler, was gracious in defeat, as befitted someone who saddled two other winners on the card to take his tally to four at this year’s meeting.”Obviously I wanted to win, but we have had our share of winners,” he said “He’s come on a lot from his early races. Maybe six furlongs would be better for him now but Darryll [Holland] thinks five furlongs on a stiffer track would be suitable. He was beaten by a better filly – no excuses.”Johnston struck with Happy Diamond and Murghem to follow wins earlier in the week with Sharp Play and Royal Rebel.Happy Diamond, the horse that was eased down by Royston Ffrench and caught on the line at Doncaster in June, clinched a hat-trick with a spirited effort in the mile and a quarter handicap.

Ridden by John Reid yesterday, he overcame Starlyte Girl in the final furlong to land the race by a length and quarter.”It’s certainly come right for him now,” Johnston said “But I don’t know about plans for him. He was 3lb wrong here, as he had a 7lb penalty and is due to go up by only 4lb in the ratings from tomorrow.”Murghem made it four wins on the trot in the Glorious Stakes and is a possible for the Melbourne Cup. Looking even further ahead, he has the Dubai Turf Classic on the agenda.Observatory, the Jersey Stakes winner at Royal Ascot, made the most of the breakneck pace to win the Group Three Lennox Stakes and will now try to make it a hat-trick of Group- race wins in the Celebration Mile back at Goodwood. “It was a cruelly-run race but Observatory is crying out for a mile,” the winning trainer, John Gosden, said.. Captain Mark Phillips has questioned the tactics employed by the British Olympic three-day event squad after it was revealed that only two of the nine horses selected for Sydney are likely to compete here in the Doubleprint British Horse Trials Championships. Captain Mark Phillips has questioned the tactics employed by the British Olympic three-day event squad after it was revealed that only two of the nine horses selected for Sydney are likely to compete here in the Doubleprint British Horse Trials Championships.
Only Karen Dixon, with Too Smart, and Kristina Gifford, with The Gangster II, have definite plans to tackle tomorrow’s cross-country in the British Open Championship.

Others may appear in the dressage and showjumping before withdrawing. All the New Zealand Olympic horses will be absent, having gone into quarantine on Thursday, earlier than originally anticipated.The meeting, which began yesterday, was originally designated as the final outing for the British Olympic candidates. With this in mind Captain Phillips, the organiser and course designer, had consultations with Mandy Stibbe, the chairman of the senior selectors, and Yogi Breisner, the chef d’equipe.”We did everything and more than we were asked to do to accommodate the horses and riders going to Sydney, which included minimising the effects of the hills,” Captain Phillips said yesterday, “but our efforts haven’t exactly been reciprocated.”According to Stibbe, changes to team plans had to be made because of the British Olympic Association’s requirement to name the horses last Thursday instead of this coming Monday as originally intended.”Once the riders knew that they were on the squad, it was human nature that they would not want to risk their horses,” said Stibbe.Stibbe was full of praise for the course “I appreciate what Mark’s done very much. It’s a fantastic course and he will have done a lot for the future of the championships with the changes he has made.”Phillips, who is also the trainer of the United States squad, believes that the British horses should have had another outing as part of their Olympic preparation – because of the gap between Cornbury, where most of them last competed two weeks ago, and the Olympic three-day event starting on 16 September.Lucinda Fredericks – now riding for Australia, which is the birthplace of her husband, Clayton – held the lead on Tina’s Gold after the first day of dressage in the Intermediate Championship here yesterday. Owen Moore has the lead in the first advanced section on Lord Killinghurst, with Fredericks among the quartet lying equal third.. The Derby Storm owner, Mike Horton, has withdrawn last season’s threat to quit basketball and announced the team will continue to play at his Thunderdome venue.