LAURA BECHTOLSHEIMER and her superb dressage horse Mistral Hojris have enjoyed a barnstorming success at Weisbaden CDI4*.

Ampney St Peter-based Laura and ‘Alf’ had a fantastic weekend in Germany, with a win and three second placings – even beating renowned dressage wonder horse Totilas and his new rider Matthias Alexander Rath.

Totilas was a triple gold medal winner at the 2010 FEI World Equestrian Games in Kentucky with his previous rider, defeating Laura and Alf in all three competitions.

Totilas was recently at the centre of controversy when he was sold for a reported 9.5 million euros.

In the first clash between Alf and Totilas, Laura performed a beautiful test to beat her unsettled rival who finished third.

In the Grand Prix Special (round two) on Monday, Laura performed a polished test, scoring 80.50%. However, a much calmer Totilas displayed some excellent movements and was back to his best, clinching a narrow success with 81.48%.

Laura and her other horse Andretti H could not better the flamboyant display of Spaniard Juan Manuel Munoz Diaz in the Grand Prix for Freestyle and Freestyle competitions, finishing runner-up on both occasions.

THE BEAUFORT Polo Club hosts the England v New Zealand International Polo Test Match on Saturday.

It promises to be a thrilling five-chukka game with England’s 27-goal team up against the 25-goal New Zealanders.

England lost their first Test match of the season in a fast and furious encounter against a strong South African side at Cowdray.

The Test match is part of the Beaufort’s two-day Country Fair (June 18 & 19). Both days provide a great family day out as well as the opportunity to catch some world class polo. There will be children’s activities and live music, as well as a charity polo match on Sunday, expected to feature Prince Harry, and a silent auction throughout the weekend.

Ticket prices start from just £10 for adults; children’s tickets £5; U5s go free.

HARTPURY College have unveiled NAF (Natural Animal Feeds) as the title sponsor for their 2011 Horse Trials, held over the weekend of August 11-14.

The horse trials are now in their ninth year and include a mix of CCI*, CCI** and CIC*** events. The four days of international competition is always popular with the antipodean eventing set. Last year the two-star was won by New Zealander Mark Todd and the CIC*** was nabbed by fellow Kiwi, Andrew Nicholson, based near Marlborough.

As well as a challenging cross country course, the venue also boasts the famous Hartpury Equine Arena and Outdoor Complex which will be full of trade stands.

This year the competition includes more than 300 horse and rider combinations. In the past the event has attracted all the top names in eventing such as Zara Phillips and William Fox-Pitt.

ENTRIES for Salperton Horse Trials have hit a record high ahead of the event at Salperton Park Estate near Cheltenham on June 25-26.

The event attracts top names who use the two-day event as a ‘run out’ before next month’s Barbury Horse Trials, the unofficial selection event for the European Championships in Germany later this year.

Riders competing at the 2011 event include Laura Collett, who galloped into eighth place at her first Badminton earlier this year.

Zara Phillips will be making the short trip from her home in Cheltenham to compete four horses at the event, just one month before her wedding to Mike Tindall.

The cross country course at Salperton was built by the 2012 London Olympics course-builders and is said to be a typical ‘Cotswold’ course. Some of the fences will be moved in July to be used in the Olympic Test Events at Greenwich Horse Park.

The event starts at 8am on both Saturday and Sunday with dressage, cross country and show jumping running throughout. Admission is £10 per person including programme.