BRITISH eventing legend William Fox-Pitt won his first four-star short competition since 2017 at Houghton Hall International last weekend, where the three-man Irish eventing team of Joseph Murphy, Susie Berry and Austin O’Connor finished second in the first leg of the FEI Nations Cup series.

Fox-Pitt landed victory in the CCIO4*-S with his top horse Little Fire when the leader after the first two phases, Alex Hua Tian (China), picked up time faults across the country and slipped to fourth place. Fox-Pitt added nothing to his dressage score of 25.4 to win comfortably from Britain’s Selina Milnes, who jumped from sixth place overnight with Iron IV (30.0), and Britain’s Bubby Upton in third aboard Magic Roundabout IV (30.7).