With such a large squad, His Majesty’s subjects had both qualitative and quantitative arguments at their disposal. As kings and queens of extreme conditions, they were not deterred by the weather, which was clearly wetter than forecast by the specialists. Caroline Harris (GBR) took the lead on 40.3 ahead of her compatriots Rosalind Canter (40.6), Tom McEwen (43) and Piggy March (45). China’s Alex Hua Tian put in a very serious cross-country performance and is lying in ambush in fifth place (45.7). Luc Château was the French No.1 in 19th place.
Australians Isabel English and Cil Dara Dallas. Image by Laura Dupuy.
Both Australian combinations successfully completed the cross country. Isabel English and Cil Dara Dallas (Diarado x Koyuna Blue Pearl, by Koyuna Quarterback) finished the day in 38th place on 67.5, adding 11 faults for a frangible pin activation at fence 22B and 24 time faults. It was a very solid performance, noting that Caroline Harris and D. Day’s 10 time faults was the best performance of the day around an extremely wet course.
Samantha Cesnik and Graftango (Birkhof’s Grafenstolz x SWS Contemplation, by Contango 11) finished in 42nd place on 75.7, jumping clear with 38.4 time faults.
Australians Samantha Cesnik and Graftango. Image by Laura Dupuy.
Incessant rain
It was forecast and stayed for the entire cross-country test. ‘It’ was the incessant rain that poured down on the Domaine de Sers, drenching horses and riders from the first out to the last home. The amazing work done by the volunteers and technical teams made sure that the show could go on in total safety for the athletes – both horses and riders.
Though nine fences were withdrawn owing to the adverse weather conditions, the course designed by Pierre Michelet was still more than worthy of a CCI5*L eventing competition. Not one of the 71 horse-rider pairs managed to make it home within the time allocated to complete the 5,213 metres (just 9 minute and 9 seconds), and those that came the closest leaped up in the provisional rankings. Like New-Zealand rider Tayla Mason, who rode home in 9’35’’, moving up from 19th to 12th place, and British rider Caroline Harris, who came in a second faster (9’34’’) and made the most astonishing comeback of the day, from 22nd to first place.
In the lead Friday after the dressage test with Izilot DHI (the horse she rode to victory in the 2023 edition of the 5 Etoiles de Pau), double Olympic Champion Ros Canter of Great Britain managed to hold on to second place, just a few tenths of a second behind the new leader. Her fellow-countryman, Tom McEwen, world no.1, stayed in the lead for most of the day, but ended finally in third place after a nail-biting cross-country test.
Things weren’t as joyful in the French camp with the elimination of the best two horse-rider pairs in the provisional ranking (Benjamin Massié on Filao de Perle, and Louis Seychal with Bakar de l’Océan LA). Luc Château (Cocorico de l’Ebat) and Camille Lejeune (Dame Decoeur Tardonne) now have the best French results, ranking 19th and 24th respectively this evening.
Given the relatively small gaps in the provisional rankings, the final show jumping test scheduled for Sunday from 3.00pm local time promises to be full of suspense. Victory should go to one of the top five pairs – four British riders and Chinese rider Alex Hua Tian. For Luc Château, a course without penalties could propel him into the top 10, which would be a very fine performance.
Great Britain’s Rosalind Canter and Izilot DHI are in second place. Image by Laura Dupuy.
Great Britain’s Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality are in third place. Image by Laura Dupuy.
What they said:
Caroline Harris (GBR), first in the provisional ranking after cross country test
“If I’m honest, I didn’t really want to run, because I was a bit scared about the ground, but I know the horse loves the mud. He ran really well at Lignières in the mud. So some friends of mine gave me a kick up the arse so I would actually go, and he ran really well, he was perfect from start to finish. If I’m honest, I have no idea! I don’t know where the minute markers were, I just let him run and jump. He’s quite small and nippy so he doesn’t struggle with the mud at all and he finished full of running, he could have gone on for two more minutes. So yeah, I’m not sure, he just kept on galloping and jumping. We’ll take show jumping test as it comes! Normally he’s a good jumper and I’ve just got to ride him well.”
Rosalind Canter (GBR), second after cross country test
“I felt that both my horses kept their ears pricked all the way round today and despite the challenging conditions, the mud was so wet that although it slowed them down, I didn’t actually feel that it sucked them up or delayed their jump or anything like that, so I think they came out having had a very positive experience. So far, so good I’d say! Izilot hasn’t had a lot of chance to recover yet, but they’re looking perky in the stables and we’re so lucky to have such fantastic grooms who give them the most amazing care after the cross-country. I’m going to enjoy [Saturday night] first and foremost and try not to think too much about the show jumping before [Sunday]. From last year’s experience, the party is very good here, so we’ll be heading there later [Saturday]. My mum said she’ll babysit so that’ll be nice and [Sunday] we’ll make a plan once we get through the trot up and we’ll see how the horse feels. My horse is a very good jumper, but it’ll probably be down to me to make it a good ride, so you’ll have to make sure I don’t drink too many drinks tonight!”
Tom McEwen (GBR), third after cross country test
“Yes so, I went early, it was quite hard to gauge how it was going to ride as I went so early, but I was one of the few people who really did want to run this morning when it was still raining and you could hear it on the lorry roof, so I was delighted. I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone at Pau to be able to hold it, and the efforts they made to shorten the course, and I actually think it created an incredible spectacle for the whole day and people rode brilliantly, so it’s been a great day for the sport even if it’s rained more than in England, so that’s one good thing. Norris is awesome, I can let him go at his own rhythm, there were a few things I wanted to do, and I should have ridden on my distances rather than riding on what I’d seen before, but like Karen said, we went out with no minute markers and you ride with feeling and try and get around. Norris is a bit different to Izilot, I think he’s got 24 hours before the trot-up, so he’s got plenty of time to get back to himself. Like Ros was saying earlier, the ground was a bit more like soup, so he actually finished brilliantly and he’s looking great now. I think the party seems to be the biggest problem with the show jumping [Sunday] so we’ll have to try not to stay too late.”
Source: Event press release / edited by EQ Life
