WARWICK rider David Goodwin had 13 penalties on Warrego Jericho after the first day of the CSI Three-star showjumping competition at Spangenberg in Germany.

Goodwin will need a strong performance in the rest of the competition in Germany to press his claims for selection for the World Equestrian Games starting next month in France.

Already, Edwina Tops-Alexander has been selected for the games based on her world ranking and Goodwin is one of the riders in contention for four more spots.

There are three riders eligible for two positions offered through automatic selection - Amy Graham, Jamie Kermond and James Paterson-Robinson.

But with penalties from the overnight Grand Prix qualifier added to each of the riders' running scores it is Amy Graham and Jamie Kermond who remain in contention for these positions.

Graham and her mount Bella Baloubet were the standout performers of the Australians picking up one time penalty and finishing 12th in the class of 88 starters. Jamie Kermond and Quite Cassini had 8 penalties while Paterson-Robinson and Boris picked up 12.

With only Sunday's Grand Prix to contest, the overnight results give Graham some breathing space as she has now accumulated nine penalties in the series thus far.

It is a nervous time for Kermond who has a total of 17 penalties and he has little room for error in the Grand Prix, which he still needs to qualify for if he is to be eligible for automatic nomination (in accordance with the selection policy only combinations that produce a total of 20 penalties or less from the qualifier and Grand Prix from each nomination round are eligible for automatic nomination).

It is not the end of the road for London Olympian and WEG 2010 representative Paterson-Robinson who carried 12 penalties leading into the overnight qualifier. He is eligible to be considered by national selectors for discretionary nomination to the Australian team.

Although not eligible for automatic nomination, combinations from Australia's jumping short list are also still in contention for discretionary nomination to the Australian team and the following combinations competed in the overnight Grand Prix qualifier at Spangenberg and produced the following scores:

• Julia Hargreaves & Vedor - 2
• Thaisa Erwin & Matilda - 12
• James Passey & Yirrkala Cortina - 12
• David Goodwin & Warrego Jericho - 13

Australia's Jamie Winning and Wirragulla Nickalus also stepped out at the event finishing on a score of 5 penalties.