William Fox-Pitt (GBR) has taken over from team mate Mary King as world number one in the HSBC Rankings. The British rider, who is competing at the second last leg of the HSBC FEI Classics™ at the Land Rover Burghley Horse Trials this week, is now seven points clear of King and will be wearing the HSBC armband at Burghley.

Both Fox-Pitt and King were part of the British team that secured bronze at the HSBC FEI European Eventing Championships in Luhmühlen (GER) last weekend, but King failed to finish after a Cross Country fall.

Newly crowned European champion Michael Jung, who picked up team and individual gold in Luhmühlen, has moved up from ninth to fifth in the HSBC Rankings behind Andrew Nicholson (NZL) and Piggy French (GBR) who remain in third and fourth.

Mary King was the first rider to wear the new HSBC armband when it was launched at the beginning of July this year. She remained out in front last month before being overtaken by Fox-Pitt in the new rankings published today. The rider at the top of the HSBC Rankings at the end of the 2011 Eventing season will receive a 50,000 USD bonus.

The HSBC Rankings were launched in 2008, when HSBC became the global sponsor of FEI Eventing.

HSBC Rankings (top 10)

1,   William Fox-Pitt (GBR), 641 points
2,   Mary King (GBR), 634
3,   Andrew Nicholson (NZL), 513
4,   Piggy French (GBR), 495
5,   Michael Jung (GER), 476
6,   Oliver Townend (GBR), 460
7,   Clayton Fredericks (AUS), 456
8,   Andreas Dibowski (GER), 442
9,   Mark Todd (NZL), 437
10, Pippa Funnell (GBR), 383

Free images for editorial purposes are available from the FEI Photo Catalogue.

Read about HSBC’s involvement with the FEI and equestrian sports here and view the full HSBC Rankings here.