The first CCI4* win for Astier Nicolas
It was a special win for Astier Nicolas at Les Etoiles de Pau – not only his first CCI4* victory but also in front of his home crowd with friends and relatives there to support him and celebrate the big win. The 26 year old has been based in England for a few years now but the city of Pau in the French Pyrenees is his home and the local French crowd was ecstatic with the win by their young star and his 12 year old Selle Français gelding Piaf De B’Neville, the first French winners in Pau since Nicolas Touzaint in 2007.
Astier too was delighted but surprised by his win, knowing that to achieve it Michael Jung would have to make a rare mistake. Michael’s day had not started well with the first placed Halunke FBW being held at the first horse inspection and not being re-presented, leaving his second placed horse fischerRocana in the top spot with Emily King and Astier less than a rail behind him and New Zealand’s Tim Price also in fourth place.
Tim and Wesko, who now have had a first, second and third together at CCI4* events piled on the pressure by jumping a clear round.
“He tries so hard and is such a good little jumper,” he said of the 12 year old Wesko that he found in a Dutch show jumping yard at the end of a long day of searching for horses “He is pure class. He was quite tired today, which is surprising but a lot of the horses were. However, he just digs deeper, finds a way and keeps trying to the end.”
Tim Price and Wesko
Tim said the showjumping course had been a demanding one, with a difficult treble to a Liverpool to finish.
“We were very focussed on a top performance here. He is my star horse and hasn’t been out to a four star since Kentucky (in April) where we narrowly missed a win. I am a bit disappointed I didn’t do a better job on the flat (the dressage) but I am definitely not going to complain about a third place in such a strong four star field.”
Astier and Piaf De B’Neville (above) also jumped a lovely clear, with Astier admitting that he didn’t feel the pressure too much
“I wasn’t at all nervous because I had two riders in front of me and didn’t think I would win” he said, however both riders in front of him each took one rail, leaving Michael Jung in second place and Emily King in fourth as Tim moved into third.
Emily King and Brookleigh
19 year old Emily’s work with Ben Maher in the show jumping phase has certainly paid dividends but the one rail that Brookleigh brought down cost her a win at her first ever CCI4*. However she is not complaining with fourth and no doubt there is much more to come from this talented young lady who has been working towards this for many of her 19 years. It’s also great to see Brookleigh, the horse named after Nikki Brooks’ estate in Western Australia, in such good young hands; Brookleigh seems to have a soft spot for French eventing, winning the 2* at Le Pin au Haras in 2012, and good results at Saumur and Fontainebleau over the years with Clayton Fredericks but this performance with Emily outshines them all!
The French crowd also had a fifth and seventh place to celebrate with Karim Florent Loughouag’s Entebbe de Hus and Punch de l’Esques both jumping clear to move up the leader board for top ten finishes while Claas Hermann Romeike, watched anxiously by his Olympic gold medallist father, Hinrich, also kept a cool head, jumping clear on Cato 60 to rise seven places to sixth at only his second CCI4*.
Michael Jung looks thoughtful on fischerRocana
Only eight riders jumped clear around Yann Royant’s challenging track and the Irish rider Clare Abbott was one of those. Clare and her Irish Sport Horse gelding Euro Prince climbed to 16th place after a strong cross country round and a classy clear round in the show jumping arena moved her into ninth place on a total of 50.7 penalties, just ahead of Mark Todd riding NZB Campino who had an uncharacteristic eight faults.
The busiest rider of the event, Sarah Bullimore has had an up and down time at Pau, being eliminated on the cross country on Lilly Corinne, but a clear show jumping round with three time penalties on Reve du Rouet left them in 18th place and four jumping penalties on Valentino V meant they were still in the money as the second best British combination in eighth place
Tim Lips slipped five places to 11th when Bayro incurred 12 faults and Andreas Dibowski was lucky to only drop two places to 12th when FRH Butts Avedon had four fences down. Paul Tapner also departed from the top 10, falling from seventh to 17 with an unfortunate six rails down on Indian Mill.
Bill Levett sadly did not compete the final phase of the competition, opting to withdraw Shannondale Titan, who was lying 10th after the cross country. Thirty-three horses completed the competition but it was definitely a case of “Vive La France” in Pau for the start of the 2015/2016 FEI Classics Series. Astier now tops the Leader Board with Michael Jung in second place and Tim Price in third as the action now moves Down Under to Adelaide from 19-22 November.
Cedric Lyard and Titou - CIC2* winners
In the CIC2* eight of the top ten places went to French riders with Cedric Lyard riding Titou collecting the 2,500.00€ winner’s prize (lucky Astier won a lovely 31,800.00€) but Emily King also picked up a ribbon for fifth spot here on Dargun. Emily led after the dressage but moved to fourth after the cross country and fifth with one rail and three time faults in the show jumping while Cedric moved up from third after the cross country into the top spot with a clear show jumping round.
