and Gary Roque continued their drive towards Barcelona as they saw action over the weekend at the Rolex Horse Trials in Lexington, Kentucky.

Tumbridge was the most successful of the local contingent, placing fourth in the advanced horse trial section on her Pan American silver medal-winning mount, Bermuda Option.

Nineteenth after the dressage, Tumbridge improved dramatically in the cross-country and show-jumping sections to surge up the leader board.

What made the performance more amazing was the fact that Option had been out of action for five weeks, just recently coming back into work.

Not faring so well was her other horse, Bermuda Pizzaz, which has already qualified for Barcelona. Pizzaz had a stop on the cross-country, effectively removing any possibility of a high placing and ended up 22nd out of a total field of 47.

Competing in the same section was Roque and his steede Casemates, which recorded a clear cross-country but suffered from a high dressage score and penalties in the show-jumping to finish 24th.

Two-time Olympian Gray was encouraged by the improvement shown by new mount Haino, which after a good dressage had a glance-off in the cross-country and a drop in the show-jumping. He eventually took 31st overall in the trial, won by Michael Plumb of the United States.

Meanwhile, Blackman was the only Bermuda representative in the Olympic qualifying CCI Three Star Three-Day-Event section.

She stood ninth on completion of the dressage phase, however her ride, Watersmeet, suffered muscle problems during the steeplechase and was `spun' by the veterinarian, taking her out of the competition.

All of the North American-based riders will continue their Olympic preparations by competing at Checkmate in Canada from May 15-17.

This event presents the last opportunity for Blackman and Roque to meet the qualifying standards.

Over in the United Kingdom, Nicola DeSousa continued her fine early season form with a solid performance in the Advanced Horse Trials at Milton Keynes.

A star-studded field included reigning world champion Blythe Tait of New Zealand as well as runner-up Mary Thompson, and under trying conditions DeSousa managed an 11th-place finish on account of a good dressage, clear show-jump round and only time penalties in the cross-country.

DeSousa's season is going in line with the program set by her and mentor Bridgett Parker. Next up are the Bickton Horse Trials this coming weekend.

Also performing well at Milton Keynes was young Kim Collins, who went clear in the intermediate group to qualify for the prestigious Windsor International Horse Trials next month.