View our full photo gallery from Friday at Pau here
Ingrid Klimke and Horseware Hale Bob
Yesterday Ingrid Klimke, a member of the all-conquering German team at the last four senior championships, said that the small number of competitors at this year’s Etoiles de Pau may be ‘good for me’ and she may well be right.
It comes as no surprise that Ingrid, a member of the all-conquering German team at the last four senior championships and dressage star in her own right, shares the lead with another star at Pau, William Fox-Pitt after both days of dressage in the French CCI4*. Ingrid, riding the 10-year-old Oldenburger gelding Horseware Hale Bob, scored 39.3 as did William Fox-Pitt on his second ride here Parklane Hawk (below).
The three judges each had a different preference for first place; Australian judge PollyAnne Huntingdon at B had Ingrid in first (72.67%), the French Judge Eric Leiby at H preferred William’s test (75.33%) while the British judge at C, Jane Tolley had third placed Andreas Dibowski on yesterday’s leader FRH Butts Avedon in first (76%). Interestingly Britain’s Nicola Wilson riding One Two Many earned the same top scores from PollyAnne and Eric but a score of 69.67 (10th) from Jane Tolley put her in fourth place
William on Seacookie is in fifth and young Belgian rider Julien Despontin on Waldano 36 is in sixth with just 4.4 penalties separating the top six going into the cross country phase
William has already commented that he will be interested to see how Parklane Hawk finds the course and has commented that he intends to circle at both the first and last water fences “which will be very time consuming and will certainly break up the rhythm” and that the course “looks very typical with plenty of arrow heads and corners, and some difficult lines”
Meanwhile Ingrid Klimke has shared with FEI TV how she intends to ride the course in the video below. You can view all the fences that Ingrid refers to in our photo gallery here
The USA’s Clark Montgomery has really had some bad luck this year and it seems to have continued with him having to withdraw Universe (Buzz) from the event before the dressage due to a bout of tendonitis. On his Facebook page Clark says “Not the news I wanted to report but my super groom Karen noticed a slight change in one of Buzz's legs after his prep ride mid morning. They were able to ultrasound it immediately and found mild tendonitis. Although it's terrible timing to have something like this come up we are thankful to have caught it before he ran”
Australia’s Kevin McNab riding Fernhill Quality Street (above) is in 27th place with a score of 58 while the two New Zealand representatives – Jonelle Price riding Faerie Dianimo and Jock Paget riding Shady Grey (below) are in equal ninth place with a score of 48.3
In the CIC2* things have remained the same at the top of leader board with France’s Veronique Real and Arnaud Boiteau in first and second and Nicola Wilson in third. Hot from his success at Boekelo and Le Lion d’Angers, Thomas Carlile is in 12th place riding Opium de Boisy, a horse he competed in 2012 and seems to have regained the ride on this year. Kevin McNab and Fernhill Now or Never are in 23rd place on 56.7
You can watch the action from Pau via DailyMotion live streaming here or via FEI TV
