last updated on May 15, 2006 01:00

Father and daughter, Ferdi and Maria Eilberg, achieved the best British placings at Hansbeke CDI in Belgium.

Ferdi, who had an operation on his shoulder after the Horse of the Year Show last year, is back on form. He rode Two Sox to finish sixth in the grand prix special and the grand prix, in which he scored nearly 70%. Maria recently competed the 12-year-old 16.2hh German-bred gelding in the Spanish Sunshine Tour and finished second in a grand prix freestyle.

“Two Sox has a lot of potential, but he can be a little timid at the big events, so I thought it was time to try to get that little bit extra from him. I asked for more power in the special, but ended up with silly mistakes, which were costly,” said Ferdi, who is enjoying being back in the competition arena and finds it help him in his job as Britain’s team trainer.

Ferdi’s 22-year-old daughter was in the prize money in the small tour with Topscore, a 13-year-old 16.1hh Dutch-bred gelding. They finished fifth in the prix st georges and sixth in the intermediaire I.