NICOLA WILSON expects her new stable star Annie Clover to have learned some valuable lessons from her maiden appearance at the World Equestrian Games.

Having retired Opposition Buzz, who she partnered to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, from top-level eventing, Wilson is pinning her hopes on ten-year-old Annie Clover as she attempts to secure a place at the Rio Games.

The pair, who are based at Morton-on-Swale, near Northallerton, finished fourth at Bramham this summer, a result that helped secure a place on the British team for the World Equestrian Games in Normandy.

A superb dressage display left Annie Clover 16th, and an even better cross-country, which incurred just 18 time faults, saw Wilson in 12th heading into the show-jumping.

Things didn’t go to plan on the final day, with Annie Clover putting five fences down as she eventually finished in 25th position, but Wilson is confident the experience will be of great benefit in the future.

“She got a little bit nervous at the beginning of the course and then I thought, ‘Brilliant, she’s settled’ and that was great, but then the last fence just took her totally by surprise,” said Wilson. “It’s her first time in this huge atmosphere – it felt even bigger than the Olympics in a huge stadium.

“Hopefully, she’ll come back from it nicely, and the experience will have done her good. She was quite happy once she was out of the ring, so hopefully she’ll learn from it all and we can move on.

“She’s got a really bright future. She’s usually a really good jumper who hasn’t really had many fences down in her career.”

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PAUL DRINKHALL kicked off his new club career with Belgian side TTC Nodo last weekend as they drew 3-3 with Diest.

The Loftus table tennis star, who won his first major gold medal at the Commonwealth Games this summer, has switched to Antwerp-based Nodo from his previous club in Germany.

The Belgian league is regarded as one of the strongest in Europe, with Drinkhall one of the star attractions following his climb up the world rankings this season.