View our full photo gallery from Friday at Pau here
Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon
Germany’s Andreas Dibowski, the 2010 winner riding FRH Fantasia, is currently in the lead after the first day of dressage of the CCI4* in Pau. This year he is riding FRH Butts Avedon, an 11-year-old gelding that finished ninth at Luhmühlen last year, and they lead on a score of 40.7.
Close behind him is William Fox-Pitt with a score of 41.80 on his first ride Seacookie. On Friday he rides Burghley winner Parklane Hawk who he has brought here for the first time
William and Seacookie
“They’re two rather different horses” says William “And it will be interesting to see how Parklane will cope with a track like this. It’s a very different event to the Four Stars at home, at Badminton and Burghley, which I’ve done with him so this will be a new challenge for us”
In the interview below William talks about the Pierre Michelet course, commenting that, although “you know what to expect from a Pierre Michelet course” he adds that “a lot of funny things can happen at Pau”!
In third place is, maybe somewhat unexpectedly, the 25 year old Belgian rider Julien Despontin riding Waldano 36 on a score of 43.7 - this combination placed fifth at Renswoude CIC3* this year, scoring 34.50 in the dressage. Not surprisingly, Julien is delighted to find himself in this position at his first CCI4*
"I can only be satisfied with my dressage! I 'm third behind two big names in the sport, so I’m really happy. My horse Waldano really met all my expectations”
Julien admits that, although he finds the cross country course a serious one, being big and long (2 minutes 2 seconds), he can’t really comment on how it will ride as it will be his first 4* cross country but “Obviously my goal is to finish the course without incident if possible"
Lauren Keiffer and Veronica
Julien is just ahead of the American combination Lauren Keiffer riding the former Karen O’Connor mount Veronica. Lauren and Veronica were second at Rolex Kentucky this year which also earned them the Rolex/USEF Four-Star Championship and this is their first visit to Pau.
Lauren’s compatriot Sharon White is in sixth place riding the 11 year old Wundermaske while Britain’s Francis Whittington is in fifth place on West Side
Australia’s only competitor in Pau, Kevin McNab is the first rider to go into the arena for the Friday session of dressage which starts at the very civilised time of 2pm, thanks to the smaller number of riders this year which, as Ingrid Klimke points out, is ‘a nice group of 35 – good for me!’
Kevin McNab and Fernhill Now or Never
In the CIC2* Kevin is currently in 11th place on a score of 56.70 riding Fernhill Now or Never. It is very tight at the top in this class which is led by two French riders, Veronica Real on Seashore Spring (47.1) and the man in the gorgeous uniform of the Cadre Noir de Saumur, Arnaud Boiteau on Sultant de la Motte (47.3) while Britain’s Nicola Wilson is in third place (47.5) riding Bulana
You've got to love a man in uniform ........... Arnaud Boiteau on Sultant de la Motte
You can watch the action from Pau via DailyMotion live streaming here or via FEI TV
Les étoiles de Pau 2014 by KAPSICUM
