It had looked like her compatriot Oliver Townend, who recently was given the title of world number one, was going to take the lead into tomorrow as he was given a penalty score of just 25.9 on board Cooley SRS, with one judge of the three judges awarding him 220.0 in the morning session.

Germany’s three-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Jung, who is now world number two, then pipped Townend to the top of the table with an impressive display La Biosthetique - Sam FBW early on in the afternoon session with a penalty score of 24.7, 1.2 ahead of Townend, with one judge awarding him 219.5 marks.

Canter, however, stormed into the lead with a magnificent display on Allstar B towards the end of the day with a penalty score of 23.9 with one judge awarding her 224.5 marks for her efforts.

This was enough to push Jung down into second whilst Japan's Yoshiaki Oiwa, riding The Duke of Cavan, finished the day in third.

Townend eventually ended up down in seventh, which threatens his hopes of achieving the Rolex Grand Slam, which he was hoping to claim this weekend after winning two of the three competitions required to claim the Rolex Grand Slam title – Burghley and Kentucky.

Winners of the Rolex Grand Slam receive an extra $350,000 (£250,000/€300,000) in addition to their winnings from each event which is £100,000 ($135,000/€115,000) at Badminton.

Competition continues tomorrow with more dressage action.