Ruth has the Edge after dressage at Burghley Horse Trials

By David Jordan, Sportsbeat, at Burghley

RUTH Edge produced the performance of the day to lead the Burghley Horse Trials after the dressage - but last year's winner Oliver Townend is breathing down her neck.

LEADING LADY: Ruth Edge collected just 38.3 points in her dressage outing at the Burghley Horse Trials to lead the way (Getty Images)

Dressage specialist Edge collected just 38.3 points in her outing on Two Thyme, while New Zealand's Caroline Powell is in second place, just 0.4 points adrift.

Townend, who recently withdrew from the reserve list of this month's World Equestrian Games to focus on London 2012 preparations, is third on 39.2 while five-time winner William Fox-Pitt is fourth with Seacookie.

Overnight leader Mary King has slipped to sixth place with Apache Sauce, having collected 45.3 points with King's Temptress - good enough for eighth place.

Edge will be up against it to maintain her lead with the likes of Townend and Fox-Pitt so close behind, but she admits she is happy just to be in the mix.

"If you can't do well in the first phase you've got no chance nowadays so it is important to get a good start," she said.

"The cross-country is a great track and every bit a four star event and it's very important to carry your form through if you have had a good test.

"It is definitely little bit softer than it has been in previous years.

"But as we can see there are plenty of other places for horses to make a mistake so you have to concentrate the whole way.

"It is big as well with some seriously big jumps on it so it will undoubtedly be a tough one.

"My horse has been on top form and feels really up for it at the moment we have been confident of a good show right from the start."

Townend, meanwhile, had no complaints after his outing on Carousel Quest.

"We did as well as we could here," he said. "He's a very complicated horse in many ways but, as you can see, he's a fantastic horse at the same time and we are very lucky to have him.

"He's grown up very well and now that he's back at the event that he won last year, it's a great credit to him that he's looking as well as he is this year."