NICOLA Wilson was full of praise for her ride Opposition Buzz after claiming top prize in the CIC*** at the Barbury International Horse Trials on Sunday.

The 32 year-old’s victory in the weekend’s showpiece event sealed her place in the Great Britain eventing team for the World Equestrian Games in Kentucky, which begin in September.

Wilson, who is based in Northallerton in North Yorkshire, was delighted with the performance put in by her 13 year-old gelding.

“He hadn’t run since Badminton and we’ve been working so hard on his dressage,” she said.

“He did his best score by far and I was over the moon at how he went – we’ve been working jolly hard on that phase.

“He tried so hard and he loves his jumping so much that he needs his reward.

“He had a ball out there and he’s always been a fantastic horse to ride and he’s such a consistent horse – he’s thoroughly enjoyed it.”

Wilson was third last to set off for the final cross country phase but stormed home with just five penalties, finishing ahead of Emily Llwellyn on Society Spice and Andrew Nicholson on Armada.

The three-star course caught out several top names with Olympians Mark Todd, Bettina Hoy and William Fox-Pitt all having stops.

Hinton-based South African Alexander Peternell suffered elimination on AP Uprising, finishing 29th with his second ride Tiger’s Eye II.

Pewsey’s Fiona Hobby suffered a run out in the three-star with Roma ML and was sixth in the CIC** section B, behind Nicholson on ten-year-old Fun Time Frankie, who was having only his third full outing of 2010.

The pair lay just outside the top 30 after dressage but moved right up the order thanks to one of the fastest rounds in the cross country, coming home just one second over the optimum time.

The section C two-star title was claimed by Ruth Edge on Applejack II.

Tytherton Lucas’ Chris King, winner of the Barbury three star title in 2007, was second on the Dutch-bred mare Miss Caruso, which he owns jointly with Chippenham’s Jane James. King was riding the ten-year-old for the first time at this level.

“I was very pleased with Miss Caruso’s first dressage test at this level – you never know how it will go when you move up but I was pleased with the mark,” he said.

“It was a little frustrating to be second by such a close mark but this was a brilliant first 2 star performance.”

Little Cheverell’s Clayton Fredericks led the dressage scores in the the Novice section D on Mr Big Cat but finished second overall behind Lockeridge’s Nicholson after coming home just four seconds over the cross country time.

Foxham’s Georgie Spence was third in that event on new ride KBIS Starlet.