Horse trials in England have been hit by yet another death, the third fatality in Great Britain in the past 14 weeks. Polly Phillipps, a member of the British team at last year's World Equestrian Games, was killed instantly yesterday when her horse Coral Cove somersaulted over on top of her at a fixture in Scotland.

The accident happened at the Scottish championships at Thirlestane Castle in Berwickshire. Running nine from the end of the competition, Coral Cove hit the Garden Park Fan, fence number 10 on the cross-country, somersaulted over and landed directly on his rider.

Phillipps died of massive head injuries at the fence, shortly before 3.30 p.m. The rest of the competition was cancelled. Mrs Phillipps' husband, Vere, had left Millstreet on Saturday night, having been at the Co Cork show jumping fixture buying horses.

This incident comes as the third death in the British horse trials scene in the past three and half months. Peta Beckett, who rode as a British individual at the World Equestrian Games in Rome last October, was killed on May 15th at a one-day event in Wiltshire, while Australian Olympic hopeful Robert Slade then suffered fatal injuries at horse trials, also in Wiltshire, six weeks later.

Two top Irish riders have also been killed in the last two years. Sam Moore died in a fall at Blenheim in September 1997 and David Foster, a former Army rider and Olympian, suffered fatal injuries at a national one-day event in April of last year.

Mrs Phillipps (30) had been surrounded by controversy since Coral Cove failed a routine dope test at last year's World Equestrian Games. The horse was found to have illegally high levels of pain-killing salicylates in its urine sample.

The International Equestrian Federation eventually disqualified Mrs Phillipps from her individual seventh-place finish at the World Equestrian Games and the British team lost both its bronze medal and Olympic qualifying slot. She was, however, allowed to ride at Bramham, pending a possible appeal against the sanctions.

Mrs Phillipps accepted her disqualification from the WEG lineup and the loss of the team bronze medal, but at the last minute decided to appeal. The case had been referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne and Mrs Phillipps said on Saturday that she was awaiting the date of the hearing.