Malchance! Breaking Down a Tough Cross-Country Day for the U.S. at Pau

The top of the CCI4* leaderboard stayed mostly intact throughout cross-country day here at Pau, with the top 10 from dressage rearranging themselves just slightly in the face of Pierre Michelet’s testing track.

Michael Jung held fast to the one-two punch he delivered yesterday with Halunke FBW and Fischerrocana FST, and Emily King and Brookleigh tackled their four-star debut like old pros to retain third. Fourth-placed Frenchman Astier Nicolas and Piaf de B’Neville satisfied the hometown crowd with their double-clear round, and New Zealand’s Tim Price and Wesko round out the top five.

Our leader, by just 0.5 point, heading into show jumping:

Michael Jung and Halunke FBW. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Great to see that Rocana has her sea legs back!

Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Michael Jung and fischerRocana FST. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Look ma, no jump/time penalties:

Emily King and Brookleigh. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Michael, Emily and Astier recap their rides in the press conference:

Further down the leaderboard, however, it looks like a wrecking ball came through, taking aim at the U.S. contingent among others who ran into trouble out here in the south of France countryside.

Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master had the best finish of our North Americans, having a super run until the third and final water complex where they picked up an unfortunate run-out. The direct route required a big, bold jump into the water followed by a bounce out to a skinny fish-shaped brush. After an awkward jump up at B “Rupert” fell out through his right shoulder at the C element. That late in the course, it’s a lot to ask of a horse to get you out of that sort of a scrape, even horses with as much honesty and heart as Rupert.

If it makes you feel any better Rebecca, you weren’t only ones who fell victim. Here’s a sequence of fourth-placed Astier and Paf de B’Neville narrowly avoiding a similar fate. Au revoir, red flag!

Rebecca rebounded with a vengeance and went on to complete the course with only 4.8 time penalties, which puts them in 30th place heading into tomorrow’s show jumping. Kick on, Rebecca and Rupert!

Rebecca Howard and Riddle Master, more determined than ever after their run-out. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Katie Ruppel and Houdini also showed their grit today, completing the course on sheer will alone. They got off on the wrong foot with a refusal at #6C, an angled house after a bank, then picked up a second refusal on course at the bullfinch #16A. But by God, they didn’t come all the way to Europe to retire on course and they scrapped their way to the finish line, looking just as determined at #5…

Katie Ruppel and Houdini. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

…as they did at #27.

Katie Ruppel and Houdini. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

They finished with 40 jumping (#6C and #16A) and 67.6 time penalties, but they finished. Well-played, Katie.

Barb Crabo and Eveready looked super where I saw them, the first real technical combination at #6ABC. Here they are, showing us how it’s done:

All systems appeared to be go for a clear round until, as with Rebecca and Rupert, the final water complex. As I described earlier, after landing from a near-galloping fence in you have to make a pretty immediate turn to the bounce out. After their brilliant go through #6ABC I raced over to watch them, and it looked to me like after Ready’s big, splashy leap in Barb just fell victim to a bit of centripetal force and slid off his outside shoulder. A shame that their day ended a bit early, but this pair really impressed me today with their focus and work ethic.

Jennie Brannigan/Cambalda and Lillian Heard/Share Option were also among the nine pairs who didn’t make it through the finish flags today.

Jennie and Ping had a fall at fence #15, a seemingly straightforward but big steeplechase type brush oxer at the far end of the course. It’s a real shame, after such a promising dressage performance that saw them into the top 10. I haven’t had the opportunity to ask Jennie what happened — the incident didn’t make it onto the live stream — but the important thing is that both horse and rider are OK and will live to dominate another day.

[Update: Jennie says she went to move Ping up before the fence and his feet just didn’t leave the ground, an unlucky and untimely fluke for this experienced pair. Ever the team player, she was out bright and early on Sunday to support our remaining North American competitors is grateful for all the well wishes. From her Facebook page: “Thank you everyone for all the support… Ping and I are both OK after our tumble and it means a lot that you all have checked in.”]

Jennie Brannigan and Cambalda. Photo by Leslie Wylie.

Lillian elected to retire at fence #13, a hedge-topped cabin atop a mound on an angled line to a matching cabin a few strides away. The pair had picked up a refusal at #8D, a skinny wedge at the first water Lillian reported on Facebook afterward that Whitey had a breathing problem on course, forcing them to pull up. It’s unfortunate that their day came to an early end but they’re an exciting team and we look forward to following their career in the future. You’ll get yours soon, Lillian!

For more specifics about what went down out there today, check out Leslie Threlkeld’s live play-by-play updates here.

Top 15 after Pau CCI4* cross-country:

The final horse inspection takes place tomorrow at 9 a.m. local time (4 a.m. EST, as this time zone had its fall-back daylight savings time change last night — a week earlier than the U.S. just to keep things confusing!), with show jumping to follow at 2:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EST).

Go Eventing!

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