BARCELONA -- Mary Jane Tumbridge's banner year came unfurled on Thursday morning when she was forced to pull out of the equestrian three-day event.

Tumbridge was poised for a final position in the quarter of the field after a fine run in the endurance test at the Centre d'Hipica del Montanya, but her mount Bermuda's Option proved unfit to tackle the showjumping test.

The onus was then placed on Nicola DeSousa and Prairie King and they answered the bell creditably at the Real Club de Polo, improving three places to 45th out of 62 finishers with a total of 185.80 penalty points. Eighty-two riders and horses started the gruelling event on Monday.

Bermuda's Option injured his left front foot during the steeplechase segment of the endurance test on Wednesday but did not appear to be in pain until after the cross-country segment that concluded the test.

Tumbridge had the injury iced throughout the night but after an unsatisfactory jog at 8 a.m., decided to withdraw.

"He's much better now,'' said Tumbridge, while watching the showjumping on Thursday afternoon. "I really wish I could have finished, but when have such a great day like yesterday and your horse gives you all he's got, you have to be happy.'' Hard luck has hit Bermuda's Olympic equestrian after there was so much promise at the start of the year when six riders were in contention for a place on the team.

First Dennis Cherry was dropped because of bad form and then Peter Gray was badly injured in a fall in England just days before the Games. That eliminated Bermuda from the team event, which requires a minimum of three riders, and left Tumbridge as the leading candidate to challenge for individual honours.

And then Tumbridge was forced to turn to her second string horse after first choice Bermuda's Pizzazz bruised an ankle while competing in England.

On Option, Tumbridge scored 58.40 in the dressage to lie in 21st place and she dropped a spot after accruing an additional 55.20 points in the endurance test.

A medal was definitely out of the question at this stage -- she was over 30 points behind third-placed Herbert Blocker of Germany -- but a clear round on Thursday, and there have been several of them, would have been good enough to place her 15th.

But what makes a top-class equestrian is one who thinks not only of personal glory but also of the horse.

"Basically, the horse was brilliant but he did lose a shoe on the steeplechase,'' said Tumbridge. "He's gone through getting shoes on and off too often and I think it just came to the point where the foot was totally bruised and hurt. Basically him being on them was enough.

"And even though he tried very hard, most horses would have just been absolutely crippled. He kept trying to be good but then the way he shows how much pain he's in, he started to collar. And that's when I knew he was in some sorry state, so you have to withdraw. You can't push him any further.'' Tumbridge, 28, plans to give Option the rest of the year off while consulting specialists as she attempts to solve the problems with his foot.

"He just has no growth to his foot,'' she said. "He's walking right on the structure of his foot so I've got to get that set. But one thing I do know is that I have a big-time horse there. He really is awesome.'' DeSousa entered the competition site at the Polo club with a huge smile on her face and left the same way, despite two jumping faults that cost her 10 points.

Prairie King knocked over the fourth fence and was one of the few horses to foul on the water jump, number nine of 15. It was a lapse in concentration that cost DeSousa a share of 44th place.

But at least she finished and that's a feat that several cannot claim, including two-time defending Olympic champion Mark Todd of New Zealand, who did not complete the endurance test.

Todd, who has had his own share of bad luck -- a horse of his died at the Badminton Trials -- could advance only as far as the steeplechase phase before Welton Greylag spun out at the sixth obstacle.

The gold medal went to Australian Matthew Ryan on Kibah Tic Toc (70.00) with Germany's Blocker second on Feine Dame (81.30) and New Zealand's Blyth Tait third on Messiah (87.60).

Bermuda's remaining equestrian hopes lie in the individual dressage with Suzanne Dunkley and Highness, who go into action at the Real Club de Polo today or tomorrow, depending on the draw.

SOLE SURVIVOR -- Nicki DeSousa was 45th.