大象传媒

Hong Kong

Before I start writing about the weather, can I first mention that none of the riders I have spoken to here have been moaning or trying to shift any blame, but it has to be said that the conditions here are affecting some of the performances.

It seemed more bearable during the Olympics, partly because the competitors rode earlier in the day, partly because they had all spent months riding in duvets and running in heat chambers and partly because of the obvious fact that they are not
disabled.

Although the have done everything they can, they, like everyone else, are finding the conditions difficult.

The temperatures here are tough, especially for those going in the morning sessions.

A Brazilian rider in Monday's grade 2 individual test looked white on dismounting and could hardly speak as she told waiting reporters she felt sick with the heat.

Britain's , who was riding in the same event, also admitted she had struggled with the conditions and one of the grooms told me Felicity had felt sick in the warm-up.

Maybe that partly explains why her test started on 74% and finished on 65.5% for sixth place, although Felicity did add that her horse Roffelaar had become a bit strong later on.

The heat may also have affected team score on Sunday morning as I know he finds it harder in high temperatures and it was roasting during his test.

So it will be interesting to see what happens on Tuesday when the evening session for the grade 1a's starts at 5pm local time (1000 BST) when it's still about 90F and very humid.

I really hope it's cooled down a bit by the time goes out 30 minutes later. We can only hope.

Talking of the 1a's, congratulations have to go to and Sophie who were superb last night, finishing first and second respectively in their team tests.

We all know they are good performers but they looked fantastic under the floodlights and made their walk-only tests look positively pacy and exciting.

Anne finished with 75.176% on her horse Teddy with Sophie on Lambrusco finishing with 72%.

Lee Pearson was his usual larger-than-life self and did what appeared to be a faultless test in the grade 1b test - it wasn't of course, otherwise it would have scored higher than 73.294%!

But he is back to his best and, despite his protestations, his new mount Gentleman is a very classy horse.