William and Seacookie lead the field after the first day of dressage
Well the world goes full circle and, as we draw near the end of an exciting (with maybe some slightly unexpected twists and turns) 2013 eventing season, the new FEI HSBC Classic Series has kicked off at Pau. We now seem to be back where we began in April at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event with William Fox-Pitt and Andrew Nicholson head to head….
It’s actually fun to see the two big guys and long-time rivals back as the centre of attention – a little break from their supremacy has maybe been a good thing (although I’m sure they would both disagree!). These guys are masters of the sport and here at Les Etoiles de Pau in the beautiful French Pyrenees we’re set for a big weekend at the last 4* of the year for these two riders. After the first day of dressage William is in the lead on Seacookie on a score of 41.5 ahead of his second horse today, Neuf des Coeurs and Andrew Nicholson riding Quimbo, both on a score of 43.2.
Quimbo and Seacookie started the year well at Rolex Kentucky with Andrew taking the top prize on Quimbo and William second on Seacookie but both riders have other horses with big potential here this week. Today Andrew also rode Viscount George into 2th place (51.70) and tomorrow William will be the last rider in to the arena on Cool Mountain at 15:52 preceded by Andrew and Mr Cruise Control at 15:44 – now that’s a good way to keep the crowd in their seats. If you can keep your eyes open in Australia until the wee hours of the morning you can watch the live streaming here (if not, just check back here tomorrow for our photo gallery and update)
Andrew and Quimbo
Despite the fact that he is a 4* winner, Quimbo (owned by Deborah Sellar) is still a relatively young horse at only 10 years of age. He won the 8/9 Year Old CIC3* at Blenheim in 2012 and is one of the horses that Andrew has bought from Spain. If Andrew and Quimbo have a good run on the cross country here they will be hard to beat in the show jumping as this really is one of Quimbo’s strengths.
"Quimbo is a very, very smart horse and an unbelievable show jumper. That’s what he’s bred to be,” said Andrew, after his win at Kentucky "His breeding isn’t standard for an event horse. It’s good show jumping blood, but it’s not the out-and-out galloping sort of blood”
However, make no mistake that this horse can gallop around Pierre Michelet’s course on Saturday “He’s got enough stamina to do the four-star jumping efforts and the gallop” says Andrew
Seacookie is one of William’s more sensitive horses,and can be quite spooky. The 14 year gelding owned by Catherine Witt came to William from Ingrid Klimke who had produced him from a four year old. Although he has had a few up and down years, he really showed his form earlier this year at Rolex Kentucky, with William admitting that he “surprised us all by producing one of his best performances”
26 year old Maxime and Cathar de Gamel
In comparison to the two extremely experienced competitors ahead of him, in fourth place is the young French rider Maxime Livio riding the stunning grey Cathar de Gamel on a score of 44.8. This horse is a real all-rounder, working at high levels in dressage and competing at 1.35m in pure show jumping so his good score here is no surprise.
The French riders really are lifting their game a notch in anticipation of next year and demonstrating they have some real talent waiting in the wings as well as their more experienced riders. Interestingly, one little snippet about this horse is that he has always lacked one rib on the right hand side due to a birth defect – it doesn’t seem to bother him much but Maxime has said it can affect his walk sometimes. Luckily he doesn’t need to do much walking for the rest of the weekend!
Burto and Ludwig seems to have more than Tempranillo in common - the hair maybe?
So who else will we see strut their stuff tomorrow? From Australia Chris Burton riding Tempranillo, a fairly new addition to his stable, will be riding in the morning as will Murray Lamperd on Under the Clocks. The mare Tempranillo is a recent addition to Burto’s stable, having previously been ridden by Ludwig Svennerstal, who is currently in equal 5th place here on Shamwari 4 (above). Ludwig wasn’t terribly happy with his test, tweeting “Very disappointed with today’s dressage” but adds “XC asks enough questions and we have everything to fight for”.
Entering for their first 4* dressage test, Hannah Sue and Harbour Pilot
In a three-way tie with Ludwig for fifth place is American rider Hannah Sue Burnett and Harbour Pilot, competing at their first 4* together and Andreas Dibowski of Germany riding FRH Fantasia
"I'm real happy with my ride today," said Hannah Sue "He was really rideable. In hindsight I could have pushed for a little more but I'm really happy with him and looking forward to Saturday.
Australia’s Lucinda Fredericks is obviously a bit of a crowd pleaser and is on later in the afternoon on Friday riding Flying Finish. Can she pull off a cracker of a test and have a flying finish to her year? Let’s hope so
In the videos below by Kate Samuels both riders give their impressions of the cross country course – if you haven’t done so already, check out every fence on the course in our Pau 4* Cross Country Course Walk and look at some of the fences they mention
4* Provisional Dressage Results
