This Pau. Not this one.
It’s Friday, which means more dressage across the globe. John is busy following all the muddy action at Fair Hill, and over in France (depending on what time you read this) they are probably just finishing up the first phase of the Pau CCI4*. Now I know you all don’t really read much of this intro paragraph stuff, so let’s just skip right to the links, ok?
Fair Hill International is offering the Young Event Horse championships as well as the CCI2*, and CCI3*. Dressage times for all [PDF]. I promise we will update you all day with as many FHI scores as possible. If anyone finds the elusive link to YEH scores, please let us know. [Fair Hill Scores]
While no Americans are competing abroad, the CCI4* at Pau is still the focus of the world stage. In an attempt to make eventing like the Winston Nextel Sprint Cup, the FEI has the HSBC point series. Can William Fox-Pitt pull a Jeff Gordon and come out with the win over Jimmy Johnson Mary King? Follow it here, with [entries], [results], and [live scores] (only during live competition). Also, live video feed for cross-country and show jumping can be seen here: www.equidia.fr. Not to be forgotten, but Pau is also running a CIC2* [entries/results]. OK I know no one really cares about that this weekend, but it’s worth a mention.
To spare you the effort of clicking on the results link (and translating French), here are the top five CCI4* dressage results after Thursday:
1. Mary King — Apache Sauce GBR (48.3)
2. William Fox-Pit — Macchiato GBR (50.0)
3. Andrew Nicholson — Andrew Tankerville NZL (50.8)
4. Peter T. Flarup — Call Back DEN (52.0)
5. Pascal Leroy — Glenburny du Leou FRA (52.3)
Want more Pau? How about some xc course insight from Clayton Fredericks? [Horse Junkies United] Only the first half of the course is profiled; as the article explains, “Pau shares its site with France’s second biggest race horse training facility. Which means the section of the course on that side of the facility (Fences 15 to 23), are not accessible until after the race horses have finished training for the day at 1 pm.”
“Pau is where it’s at” according to Talkinghorse.net. Apparently the weather is lovely there, and the segway is a popular form of transportation. Follow Monty all weekend long for great coverage of Les Etoiles de Pau.
Holly Hudspeth announces two new sponsors on her blog. Not to spoil the surprise, but one of them is our very own Kentucky Horsewear (see banner atop this page). Holly loves these protective boots, so maybe they’re worth a try.
From the Chronicle of the Horse, Lauren Billys writes about her journey to Mexico for the Pan Ams. We may perhaps take these Games for granted, but Lauren says “this is more than a competition. This is an experience, a chance to make history, and a tradition that I feel honored to be a part of.”
In other news, racehorse trainer Rick Dutrow (remember him with Big Brown in 2008?) has been suspended 10 years by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. In addition to numerous drug violations, the board cited that his conduct “has been improper, obnoxious, unbecoming, and detrimental to the best interests of racing.” Perhaps the incident before the Belmont about his liberal use of Winstrol on national TV was a bad idea. Dutrow and his lawyer are appealing the ruling, but the sentence is actually less than the recommended lifetime ban. I don’t think many will miss him.
ESPN wrote about every single Pan American Games sport and somehow managed to not mention eventing.
Stay tuned for a busy day on Eventing Nation. See you soon.
