Les Etoiles de Pau (The Stars of Pau) will take place this week from the 12th- 16th October 2011
Pau hosts the only 4* International Horse Trials in France and is one of the six HSBC FEI Classic events which includes France (Pau), Great Britain (Badminton and Burghley), the United States (Lexington, KY), Germany (Luhmühlen) and Australia (Adelaide).
94 riders will be lining up for the 4*challenge including Australian riders Chris Burton on Newsprint and Holstein Park Leilani, Clayton Fredericks on Dunge’s Laurent Rosé and Bendigo, Paul Tapner on Kilfinnie II and our very own Eventful Life featured rider, Wendy Schaeffer is back competing in Europe with Adelaide 4**** winner, Koyuna Sun Dancer.
Dancer was left in Australia under the watchful eye of Brett Parbery to work on her dressage when Wendy first headed overseas with two event horses (Storm and Shine) and her showjumping mare Koyuna Sun Set but has now joined the rest of the team to have a crack at a 4**** in Europe. We wish Wendy and the other Aussie riders lots of luck and a great event.
There will be plenty of competition from the New Zealand and British riders who are on top form at the moment. Andrew Nicholson has three rides while Mary King (on Apache Sauce and Imperial Cavalier) and William Fox-Pitt (on Lionheart, Oslo and Macchiato) will be battling it out not only for the win at this event but also for the top prize of US $150,000 at the final leg of the HSBC FEI Classic Series.
Here’s a quick look at one of the fences on this year’s course at Pau. If you don’t speak French, he says “You just jump in, jump out and jump over”
