Hold, please…
Les 5 Etoiles de Pause might be the more accurate title for cross country at the French five star this year.
Pierre Michelet’s course, one of the most thrilling in recent history, lived up to its challenging expectations—and then some. Of the 56 starters, 37 completed the course but only 20 came home without jumping faults as several pairs were held on course throughout the day.
“I did not expect the course to supply quite so many surprises,” commented Michelet. “In hindsight, it was more twisty at the beginning than in previous years and this may have caused some of the horses to be a bit timid by the time they got to the galloping parts of the track, on the racecourse.”
Eventing’s reigning superpower, Britain, dominated on the day but did not escape the drama on course.
World no. 2 Ros Canter (GBR) came to the event double-handed. Her first ride, Pencos Crown Jewel, eighth after dressage, stopped at the skinny brush at fence 20 but was otherwise clear.
Canter attempted the direct route again on her second ride, Izilot DHI, and flew through the obstacle, coming home with just 6.8 time faults. The pair was held for several minutes on course while Tom Rowland’s second ride, MGH Maybe A Mission, was attended to by the vets. (The horse was later checked at the local vet clinic and released). She was then briefly held a second time, at the end of the course, when her route to the penultimate combination 28ABCD was barred by ropes at a crossing point that had not been cleared.
“I shouted as I came towards the crossing and eventually the ropes were lowered to the ground so that I could ride over them but the incident cost me several valuable seconds,” said Canter.
Upon review by the ground jury, 3.6 time penalties were removed from her score, handing the reigning European champion the overall lead on 27.5.
Tom McEwen (GBR) and JL Dublin slot into second after adding eight time penalties to their score for a total of 31.1.
“It is interesting to note that the three horses that got closest to the time were all held on the course,” noted a rueful McEwen.
“The course was very intense, it caused problems all the way around. I’m lucky to have been to Pau several times so I know that you have to be positive but you have to be able to change from that forward distance into a waiting distance, and for me, it all worked!”
The most meteoric rise went to Britain’s Kirsty Chabert, another rider to “benefit” from a hold on the course, although she remarked, “It wasn’t great to be held in front of the fence that you fell on with your first horse!”
She and Classic VI, notched up the second fastest time of the day, incurring just 0.8 time faults to climb 19 places into third.
The fastest time of the day was claimed by America’s Boyd Martin and Federman B. Held on the course before the 11th fence for close to 30 minutes, the pair were the only combination to come home within the optimum time but added 11 jumping penalties for breaking a frangible pin at fence 13b. The pair jumped from 16th into ninth place on the provisional leaderboard.
Fellow Americans Alexandra Knowles with Morswood and Cosby Green on Copper Beach climbed into the top 15, sitting in 14th and 15th respectively, while Phillip Dutton and Z had a refusal at fence 28, a skinny triple brush at B, to fall to 22nd.
British riders now hold the top seven places, with world no. 1, Oliver Townend in fourth on Tregilder, Piggy March and Coolparks Sarco in fifth, Pippa Funnell and MCS Maverick in sixth and Kylie Roddy on SRS Kan Do in seventh.
Pau wraps on Sunday with 37 combinations advancing to the show jumping phase. Tune in on Horse & Country TV at 9:30am ET.