Thibaut Fournier on Siniani De Lathus
Anyone heading to Les Etoiles de Pau for a little canter around to finish their season may have had a little shock on cross country yesterday. With some of the ‘great and good’ of the sport falling (literally) by the wayside on Pierre Michelet’s course, Oliver Townend’s prediction of this year’s course being a ‘real 4* track and really tough’ came true.
Oliver, leading after the dressage on 4* first-timer Cillnabradden Evo, made it nearly all the way around but fell at Fence 31B which also caused a problem for fellow Brit David Doel who picked up 20 penalties at the second swan.
The final, and very demanding, combination on course was at Fence 34AB, which caught out another big name. William Fox-Pitt on his 4* debutant horse Little Fire added 20 penalties at 34A then William parted company from Little Fire at 34B, ending their day. Bettina Hoy, Elmo Jankari and Joseph Murphy all picked up 20 penalties here
Although these later fences certainly contributed to the downfall of quite a few, the problems were scattered around the course. In third place after the dressage, Andreas Ostholt and Corvette 32, dropped to 29th after a refusal at Fence 14, Tim Price and Ascona M (fourth after dressage) were eliminated at Fence 10 when Tim hit the deck, Flora Harris and Bayano (sixth after dressage) parted ways at Fence 26 and Jesse Campbell (equal eighth after dressage) retired at Fence 25 after a problem there and earlier in the course at 16B
Some didn’t make it very far; sadly New Zealand's Andy Daines joined his boss William Fox-Pitt in the 'lazy Sunday' club when he retired Spring Panorama at Fence 8. The super experienced Phillip Dutton fell from I’m Sew Ready at Fence 7 and Boyd Martin picked up 50 penalties at Fence 5 then decided to retire later in the course on Steady Eddie, the horse he found in Queensland and first tried in flip-flops. There was happier news for another USA-based Australian (we still count both Boyd and Phillip in that category, regardless of which flag they fly!) with Ryan Wood coming home with just 5.2 time penalties on board Woodstock Bennett at their first European 4* - well done!
Ryan Wood and Woodstock Bennett
This has left Ryan in 10th place heading into the final phase, 13.8 penalties behind the current leader Thibaut Fournier on Siniani De Lathus. After a bit of a glum weekend for the French with the loss of Karim Laghouag's team gold medal winning horse at Rio, Entebbe De Hus following a bout of colic, there is now some reason for rejoicing with the 25 year old Thibaut on his 12 year old Selle Français gelding in the lead (25.5). He has one rail in hand over Britain’s Gemma Tattersall in second place.
Gemma Tattersall and Pamero 4
Like Thibaut and Siniani De Lathus, Gemma and Pamero 4 came home double clear from the cross country phase and when Ros Canter on Zenshera added 7.2 time penalties, the World Champion moved down to fourth place (31.3) and Izzy Taylor on Be Touchable moved into third (30.8)
We don’t envy Thibaut one bit having these three brilliant British lady riders piling the pressure on tomorrow. Based on past performances, especially in view of the tough course these horses have just jumped around, all four could have a rail tomorrow and then again, they could also jump clear.
Izzy Taylor and Be Touchable
Gemma, Izzy and Ros and three super cool customers who are used to performing under pressure whereas Thibaut has to put in a top class performance at his first ever CCI4*. If he pulls off, the French will go mad and they will have their fourth French winner at Pau in a row ………..
