Classic Eventing Nation

Tom McEwen leads the lap of honour for the first time at this level. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

It would be tempting, when writing about Toledo de Kerser and Tom McEwen‘s first CCI5* victory at Pau today, to suggest that it’s been rather a long time coming. But Tom is quick to dispel that notion with a laugh: “I know everyone always goes on about their horse deserving a win, and all that rubbish, but he’s a mega horse and when you’re sat on something like that on the last day… yeah, he sailed. It’s a horrible thing to say, but it felt easy – he’s incredible.” Then, he concedes – “The horse fully deserves it; he’s an amazing horse.”

Though Pau had to break its lucky streak of home nation winners, it did enjoy one consolation prize – the winner was a Selle Français. As such, his two-phase lead was closely followed by the record crowds of attendees, waiting to see if the rangy French horse – originally produced by Australia’s Sammi Birch – could come good on home soil.

“He’s a super French horse and he jumps like an airplane, so there was nothing to be worried about today – I’m the only one who’s going to let him down showjumping, so I just needed to stay on board and count some numbers,” says Tom, who entered the ring in a confident position – he had already produced a foot-perfect clear with Figaro van het Broekxhof (16th) and the difficulty of the course meant that he suddenly found himself with two fences in hand; rather a luxury when you’re sitting aboard a horse who’s only ever had two rails in his entire international career.

Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

But as it happened, he wouldn’t use any of the significant buffer he’d been granted – instead, he canter into the main arena as though he was about to cruise through a schooling exercise at home and neatly popped his way around the twisting track, making us rather wonder why anyone had had any rails down at all throughout the day. In fact, Tom’s round was one of just nine without jumping penalties out of the 27 rounds completed, and one of just five to finish up clear and without time penalties.

Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

For Tom, this win wraps up an occasionally frustrating season in a bow.

“He’s just such an incredible horse, despite a few things going wrong at the beginning of the year,” says the rider, who missed his cross-country start time at Badminton this spring with Toledo, and then knocked a frangible pin, ultimately finishing eleventh. Then, a surprise slip-up on the yard meant that the gelding had to miss the European Championships, for which he’d been selected after this great performance at the Tryon World Equestrian Games last year.

“It’s not been bad at all; it’s just been a bit flat – it’s the highs and the lows of the sport, although my lows haven’t been that low,” says Tom, level and unruffled as usual, though a broad grin sneaks across his face every few moments. It seems fitting that this first victory comes at the place where it all began for Toledo – he did his first five-star here three years ago, finishing 22nd, and has since featured in the top ten at both Badminton and Burghley.

Now, Tom and his team begin the 25-hour journey home – but Tom has a celebration up his sleeve.

“I’m off to Amsterdam for a stag do,” he says with a twinkle in his eye.

Chris Burton and Quality Purdey. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Quality Purdey once again proved that her moniker isn’t a misnomer, stepping up to finish second with Australia’s Chris Burton in the irons. Though they had begun the week in sixth place on their dressage score of 27.8, a quick round across the country moved them up to third overnight. Although they tipped the final fence today, they were able to step up into second place, over eight points behind the winners. Remarkably, this result means that Chris now has six horses qualified for Tokyo this year – a phenomenon we think can be fairly described as an embarrassment of riches.

Shane Rose and Virgil. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Shane Rose, like Burto above him, represents Australia – but unlike Dorset-based Chris, Shane hasn’t set up shop on European shores. Instead, he and Virgil travelled for five days to make it to Pau, at which Shane hoped they might be able to nab a top placing and curry favour with the Australian selectors ahead of next year’s Olympics. While the plan paid off in the end, with their clear round over the poles helping Shane and Virgil to climb from fifth to third, it wasn’t without its difficulties.

“He actually tied up last week at Le Lion d’Angers during a gallop there,” explains Shane. “We were held up on the racecourse for about forty-five minutes and the stress really got to him. So it wasn’t ideal, but we had a great support team to get to this point.”

Just one stone remains unturned for Shane as he reflects on his week, which saw him deliver a dressage mark of 33 for 14th place after the first phase, and then climb to fifth after adding just 1.6 time penalties on cross-country.

“It’s just a shame my dressage wasn’t to the standard it can be,” says the rider, who led after the dressage here with CP Qualified in 2017, but came unstuck on the cross-country course. “But I’m very pleased with the horse; it’s a big deal travelling to the other side of the world. The plan was to come here, do well, and cement a top three performance so we could give ourselves a good chance for next year.”

Alex Bragg and Zagreb. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Alex Bragg and Zagreb went into the final phase in a close second place after delivering the only clear round inside the time over yesterday’s cross-country course, and although Alex, too, is a British rider who has continually come achingly close to a top placing at this level, it wasn’t to be his week. He dropped to a still very respectable fourth place after two fences – including, infuriatingly, the final one – toppled, an out-of-character performance for the ordinarily reliable fifteen-year-old gelding.

Ros Canter and Zenshera. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Two rails would tumble for Ros Canter and Zenshera, who nevertheless finished fifth – their third time finishing in the top ten at this event, and their fifth time in the top ten out of five attempts at the level. As far as speedy returns to the sport after having a baby go, it’s not too shabby at all.

Tim Price and Ascona M. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

No one had to work quite as hard for their clear round as New Zealand’s Tim Price, who displayed remarkable tact in manoeuvring the headstrong Ascona M around the course. ‘Ava’, who won at Luhmühlen this year, is still just an eleven-year-old and this week, in the best shape of her life, she’s certainly proven hard to handle. But such is the flamboyant mare’s scope that she can skip her way over the top of the wings, throwing her legs out ahead of her in her typical style and laughing her way to the finish while the rest of us scarcely dare to breathe. We were relieved to see someone hand a laughing Tim a glass of something naughty as the showjumping came to a close – he likely needed it.

But while Ava may not have been the easiest of mounts this week, as she demonstrated while tackling the arena familiarisation days ago on her hind legs, she’s certainly proven once again that she’s got all the goods. Despite having a necessarily slow round to focus on the mare’s education, rather than getting caught up in an argument, Tim and Ava still finished in 6th place, one spot up from the 7th place spot they occupied after each of the first two phases.

Kevin McNab and Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Australia’s Kevin McNab also rode an eleven-year-old, but Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam brought forward considerably less experience than Ascona M. Though making his five-star debut – and partnered by a rider we haven’t seen at this level in several years – he looked every inch the old pro, tipping just one rail along the way to swap places with Tim and Ava and finish 7th, a week-long climb of eight places.

Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Two late rails fell for Germany’s Andreas Dibowski and his long-term partner FRH Butts Avedon, not an unusual circumstance for the hugely experienced partnership who long held a weak spot in this phase. But they didn’t drop a single place on the leaderboard, instead just sacrificing the one place they could have moved up had they gone clear.

Any performance today would have been the icing on the cake of a successful final major competition for sixteen-year-old FRH Butts Avedon, who was for so long one of Germany’s most successful five-star horses. Though his form at the level tailed off in recent seasons, with multiple failed attempts, it’s been enormously special to watch him romp around the three phases of this week’s competition looking back to his best. Dibo had told us earlier this week that he wanted to give his old friend the chance to bow out on a high – and that mission was inarguably accomplished today.

Mathieu Lemoine and Tzinga d’Auzay. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Mathieu Lemoine and the ten-year-old mare Tzinga d’Auzay tipped two poles but stayed in ninth place, finishing the best of the French riders at this week’s competition.

“Tzinga is not the easiest horse in the showjumping arena; I had a credit of two rails to stay in ninth, and I did have two rails down,” says Mathieu, who was part of the gold medal-winning French team at the Rio Olympics, but has largely been out of the spotlight since the sale of his Olympic mount Bart L to the Japanese team. But the promise shown by the Selle Français mare on her debut this week gives the popular rider plenty of reason to hope for a return to the global stage.

“She’s got a big heart and tries her hardest, and I’m getting to know her really well now. This has opened a lot of doors; when I came here I was not expecting to do so well. This opens a glimmer of a dream for future big events with Tzinga.”

Benjamin Massie displays his orange armband, as does Arnaud Boiteau, pictured in the background. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Mathieu joined his fellow French riders in wearing an orange armband, a nod to their young countryman Thibault Fournier, who won Pau last year on his debut and is currently in hospital, recovering from a major fall at Pompadour that put him into a coma.

Sarah Way and Dassett Cooley Dun. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Let it never be said that we at EN miss out on the stars of the future – we’ve been cheering on little Dassett Cooley Dun for two seasons now, and today, the 15.1hh Irish-bred claimed his biggest result yet, rounding out the top ten with rider Sarah Way who, like Ros, is newly back from maternity leave. The diminutive gelding, known at home as Mouse, made his debut here last year, picking up an unfortunate 20, but this year, the strength of the pair’s performance yesterday allowed him to climb from 40th after dressage to 14th. Today, they knocked just one rail and moved up four places to tenth, representing the biggest climb of the week. Pony power – it’s the most sustainable form of energy, folks.

Holly Jacks-Smither and More Inspiration. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

Canada’s Holly Jacks-Smither has waited several long years to come to Pau with ex-racehorse More Inspiration, and although two rails down belied the pair’s consistency in this phase, it didn’t lose her her twelfth place spot.

“I’m happy with my weekend – this is my strongest phase, so it’s a shame to have two down, but we had personal bests in both the other phases,” says Holly. “I’m thrilled with my horse and thrilled with my weekend in general. I’m so glad I made it here – not just to be at the show, but because of the people I’ve met along the way, these amazing connections that will stay with me forever.”

James Avery and Mr Sneezy. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

British-based Kiwi James Avery was the best-placed five-star debutante, finishing 17th with Mr Sneezy after a clear showjumping round with 0.8 time penalties to end their week on a score of 80. Though the pair picked up 20 penalties across the country yesterday, they proved themselves to be a stylish and capable duo in their debut.

And so we come to the conclusion of the final CCI5* of the Northern Hemisphere’s eventing season and, in fact, our European coverage for 2019. But never fear – we’ll have plenty to keep you warm on a cold night from this side of the pond as we head into the off-season. For now, though, let’s all raise a glass to Tom McEwen, to Toledo de Kerser, and to 2019, with all its highs, lows, and perfect moments. Roll on 2020, when we can once again Go Eventing.

The final top ten at the 2019 edition of Les 5 Etoiles de Pau.

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Felix Vogg and Archie Rocks on course at Pau. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

We’re devastated to report that Archie Rocks, ridden by Switzerland’s Felix Vogg, has been euthanised following a fall late on course at Les 5 Etoiles de Pau yesterday. The pair had enjoyed a clear round up until the final water on course, which featured a hanging log in at 28A and a skinny in the water at 28B. After navigating the first element successfully, the gelding appeared to stumble in the water, falling just in front of the second and sustaining a catastrophic injury to his shoulder.

The event has released a statement, which reads: “It is with a great sadness that we announce that Archie Rocks, ridden by Switzerland’s Felix Vogg and owned by Phoenix Eventing S.à.r.l., was put down on Saturday, October 26, following a fall on the cross-country, while competing at the CCI5*-L of les 5 Etoiles de Pau, France. The fall occurred on fence 28B.

The decision to put the horse down was taken by the owner, in consultation with the show veterinarians.”

“Archie Rocks suffered an irreparable shoulder fracture, considered to be severe by the veterinarians on the site,” says Felix, who co-owned the gelding, in the statement. “Despite all efforts to save him, we have had to take the difficult decision to put him to sleep. Archie was a very special horse in many respects. Special thoughts go to all his American fans, who have given him their support throughout his career. He was outstanding on the cross-country, a sweet horse who gave his best to his rider.”

Archie Rocks enjoyed a brief career as a racehorse, winning over $30,000 over 30 starts in the States before embarking upon his second career as an eventer. He was bought from Chris Talley by Maya Simmons, who renamed the horse – then called Smittys Messiah – to honour her grandfather, who served during World War II. Maya campaigned the gelding to CCI4*-S before Buck Davidson took the reins, partnering Archie to top ten finishes in all four of their international runs together, including Fair Hill CCI4*-L, Jersey Fresh CCI4*-L, and a win in the CCI4*-S at Plantation Field. Felix bought the eleven-year-old at the end of 2018, and in their brief but illustrious partnership together, they finished in the top ten in the CCIO4*-S at Pratoni, the CCI4*-L at Strzegom, and represented Switzerland at this summer’s European Championships.

Eventing Nation’s team sends its deepest consolations to Felix and all of Archie’s connections and many fans. Archie Rocks was not only a much-loved ambassador for retrained racehorses worldwide, he was also a firm favourite among the teams he was a part of, and will be much missed.

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Jack Pinkney and Raphael tackle fence 11. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

If you’ve been following along with Les 5 Etoiles de Pau – or, indeed, have nipped onto social media over the last 24 hours – it’s likely you’ve come across a widely-shared video of an incident that occurred over yesterday’s cross-country horse. Today, we spoke to 27-year-old Jack Pinkney, the British debutante who was eliminated when his mount, 15-year-old Raphael, attempted to jump a large dividing wall in the final section of the course, and who has been at the centre of heated criticism as the clip has gained traction.

“It started brilliantly – he was flying, as always, and he made everything in the beginning feel like it was easy. He was cruising around, and it felt like you’d want it to,” reflects 27-year-old Jack, who runs his own yard in Andover, Hampshire after several years working for Padraig and Lucy McCarthy and latterly, Austin O’Connor. He took the ride on Julia Plaisted’s Raphael, who was a working hunter until the age of ten, five years ago, and has produced the Irish Sport Horse through the levels as he, too, has made his debut at the upper echelons of the sport. Promising results, including tenth place in a CCI4*-S at Chatsworth and a fast clear at Blenheim’s CCI4*-L, led to the decision to head to the south of France’s for the pair’s first five-star.

The early section of the course proved uneventful for the seasoned partnership. But after jumping neatly through the first part of the course’s first water complex, Jack turned back for the second passage through, made up of fences 10 – a reasonably skinny arrowhead – and 11, a brush swan in the water. As the pair touched down from fence 10 and aimed for the left-handed turn to 11, Jack’s left rein snapped partway through the rubber section, and with the balance and steering momentarily lost, they slipped by fence 11, picking up 20 penalties. Jack quickly regained purchase on the broken left rein, which allowed enough length for him to comfortably use it, circled back, and popped fence 11.

“It snapped on the rubber section of the rein, which was odd, but I managed to pick up what I could in the water to then ride out over 11 and 12,” says Jack. “Again, [Raphael] showed how class he was, because he just did it. Then I had a bit of thinking time, because I had a bit of a gallop to a straightforward table, and I was addressing what I had at that time: I had a left rein, so I decided that I had control of the horse. We jumped the table at 13 and he felt good, and so I addressed it again.”

Jack assessed the length of rein he was afforded, and tested the controls to see whether he felt he could assert enough influence for the next, more open, part of the course.

“I had to have my left hand more forward, but I had a rein – it wasn’t like there was nothing there. I had a bit of rein to play with, and I could ride it. I shut the canter down, I shut the whole plan down then – I stopped my watch, because I thought, ‘let’s just try to give him a nice round with what I can do.’ I just wanted to get him home; I thought I was safe to go on because he’d been so easy and he felt brilliant.”

“We then did lots of technical parts [from fences 14 to 26]; I added in a couple of places because I changed my riding to try to get there and make it easier for the horse,” continues Jack. “Where there were long routes I took them. From then on, he was cruising and it was going well – he did the tricky turn to the left where you have two angled brushes [at 25 and 26] amazingly.”

The next fence was one of Pau’s myriad let-up tables – an innocuous obstacle after the skinnies and turns that the pair had already conquered. But this jump – fence 27, just prior to the final water and only a handful of fences from home – proved to be enormously influential to the pair, who had settled into a comfortable rhythm.

“He just jumped so well over [27] that it took the rein completely out of my hand,” explains Jack, who  leaned down to try to regain it. “I could never catch it again – I tried to pull on the martingale to slow him, and that’s where you see me trying to reach for the rein [in the video]. But the rein was hanging, and I couldn’t catch it.”

Just beyond fence 27, a large dividing wall – roughly ten feet high – opened into an archway to usher horses and riders into the final wooded section of the course. Still without his left rein, Jack felt Raphael lock onto the wall as though it was an obstacle.

“Being a very brave horse with confidence in our partnership, he eyed up the wooden dividing wall between two parts of the course, and there was nothing I could do. He took off at it, I fell off backwards and he galloped off,” says Jack, who landed on his feet as his horse attempted to clear the wall, instead crashing into it and landing on his hindquarters, quickly uprighting himself and cantering away.

Much of the criticism on social media has been directed at the two seconds of footage immediately after the fall, which show Jack throwing his whip to the ground as his horse canters away. But this, he says, isn’t indicative of any anger towards his horse – instead, it was a visceral reaction to how the situation could have panned out.

“At that moment, I was so angry with myself – I thought, ‘I could have hurt my horse’. Any reaction from me was just upset with myself,” he explains. “I made a massive mistake – your adrenaline’s up, you’re going, and you’re wanting to finish, and as a competitor that’s what you do. But then, if you could take a breath when you finish it, you start to think that would could have happened could have been so much worse, and that’s when you think, ‘I should have pulled up.’”

After tending to his mount, Jack took himself to the ground jury, professing his responsibility for the entire incident. He has received an official warning.

“I told them that I’m completely guilty; I have nothing to hide,” he says. “I made a mistake, and I’ve learnt from it – I won’t ever do it again.”

Despite the intensity of the backlash, Jack tells us that his overwhelming feeling is relief that his partner, Raphael is unhurt.

“He’s totally sound and happy, with just a small cut on his face,” he says. “We trotted him up this morning and he was absolutely fine, so I’m so relieved. He’s such a gent, and he just wants to please – I’ll probably never ride a horse like him again, and I know him so well. If I’d been on something else, I’d have thought differently. From the bottom of my heart, I didn’t want it to be dangerous, and I’m so sorry.”

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Tom McEwen and Toledo de Kerser. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

A curious thing happens at the beginning of cross-country day at a major three-day event: either the first riders out of the box make the whole shebang look laughably easy, and then a false sense of ease settles upon the rest of the pack and it all unravels again – or the first few fail to make it to the finish, and everyone begins to pay very close attention to every stride. The latter is what we saw today at Pau, where 29 of the 41 starters completed the course, but just 16 did so without adding jumping or flag penalties. Throughout the day, we saw problems scattered evenly across the course, with the myriad skinnies providing ample opportunity for drive-bys.

At the end of the day, though, dressage leader Tom McEwen would prevail, romping home just two seconds over the optimum time with Toledo de Kerser.

“Usually I don’t get that excited about things, but I was in that round,” laughs Tom, who piloted Figaro van het Broekxhof to a completion – albeit with a 20 – earlier in the day. “It’s been a long day for me; we’ve been to our Burghleys, and our Europeans, and so on, but it’s a strong field here and it’s just caused problem after problem all day. It’s a long old wait until the end of the day, and the first one wasn’t as precise as we’d like, although he went well. But Toledo was ready to go to the Europeans and he’s carried that over, so we were very fresh out of the start box. We just got into the flow of it – we were right down out the back and he just picked it back up, and as the round went on he just got smoother and smoother. For a horse with not much blood, he can run well enough.”

Though this is the first time Tom will go into the final phase with this amount of pressure, one thing must surely make him breathe a little more easily: Toledo de Kerser has one of the most impeccable showjumping records in the field.

Alex Bragg and Zagreb. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

The fastest round of the day – and the only round to stop the clock under the optimum time of 11:15 – was that of Alex Bragg and Zagreb, who finished with three seconds to spare and climbed from eighth to second place. For the pair, who have twice been fifth here on double-clear performances, making the time at Pau is a first.

“I think it shows the improvement in both of us along this journey,” says Alex. “He doesn’t have the biggest stride, considering he’s such a big horse, but he does have a lot of experience now and I’m able to ride up to fences without interfering or setting up too much, so I could keep a good pace and rhythm all the way around the track.”

Watching the riders before him impressed upon Alex the importance of finding that rhythm.

“I watched Tim [Price and Ascona M] and thought they looked like they were travelling well, but suddenly they were 40 seconds up on the clock,” he says. “It was clear to me that you were going to lose time in the last part of the course because the horses would be tired, and you’d be able to run straight past fences. You don’t want to be pulling their heads off and killing their power; you needed to relax to the fence and let them slow up themselves. Then, when you put your leg on, you’d get a response – and that’s the crucial thing.”

Alex roundly praised Michelet’s course design, which exerted considerable influence: “When I walked the course I knew it would have accumulative effect on horse and rider – you needed to make a decision about adding or leaving out before you got to a combination,” he explains. “If you were indecisive you had a slip-up – but that’s why it’s a clever course. You didn’t have major incidents and injuries, but it had an effect. This is a three-phase competition, after all.”

Chris Burton and Quality Purdey. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

The fastest man in the world didn’t quite deliver the fastest round of the day today, but Chris Burton couldn’t fault five-star debutante Quality Purdey, who added just 2 time penalties to move up to third place from sixth.

“I’m so proud of her – she’s a lovely mare, and I’m so lucky to have the ride on this horse,” says Chris. “She got a bit tired like they all did; Pierre Michelet does a great job of slowing us down in that last and second-last minute. It’s just impossible to take the fences out of a gallop and be quick. There’s a lot going on. But she’s really astonishing in how she looks for the jumps and wants to jump them – she steals my heart.”

Quality Purdey’s success is something of a miracle for her connections, who nursed her back from an injury last season.

“She broke her pedal bone after Aachen last year, and she’s come back from that getting better and better,” says Chris. “She’s amazing; she’s defied all the odds, and our team vet just can’t believe it – he’s absolutely in love with her.”

Chris and his team affectionately refer to the mare as ‘the dragon’ – despite her placid, sweet nature at home, she starts to breathe fire (though not literally, one must hope) at events.

“She must count down the days to an event – she knows when it’s cross-country day,” laughs Chris. “At Lignières we couldn’t get near her in the stable – she was wild, snorting fire, and she did a little bit in the dressage there, too. But she’s a lovely mare and we absolutely love her. You’ve never met a horse who wants to do it so much.”

Ros Canter and Zenshera. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

Reigning World Champion Ros Canter made good on her postpartum five-star comeback, cruising around with 15.2hh Zenshera. Though small, the fifteen-year-old gelding has become a mighty Pau specialist, finishing in the top ten on both his runs here – and today, both he and Ros showed us exactly why, adding a relatively tiny 6 time penalties to their 27.2 dressage to sit fourth overnight.

“We didn’t have a bad jump – he was just fantastic,” says Ros, who gave birth to her daughter, Ziggy, in July. “He’s such an honest horse, and he turns easily, and he comes back easily, and I don’t have to set him up too much, so from that point of view, he’s great. He just doesn’t have the gallop – you get out onto the racecourse and you think ‘right, now we can go’, and we don’t go any faster. I just have to be chugging away the whole time – he just doesn’t take me. It’s really hard if you have to slow down, because it takes quite a while to get back up again. I’ve got used to it now, though. The first time I came here I was slogging away at minute two, and so I slowed down thinking, ‘I’ve got all this way to go and he’s already tired’ – but he wasn’t getting tired, he’s just level in his rhythm and he doesn’t get any faster. But you know what? We didn’t buy him ever thinking he’d go around something like this, and I can live with a few time faults – I wouldn’t want to be on any other horse coming back. He and Allstar B are extremely special to me.”

Despite this, Ros admits that she felt the prickle of nerves this morning.

“I thought of just having a word with my partner and saying, ‘is this a stupid idea?’,” she says. “I had a bit of a wobble this morning – I went out early to have a practice fence, for my benefit not the horse’s, because I just haven’t been doing it like everyone else has this year. But I ended up pulling out of a brush fence that was only about a metre high, and I thought, ‘what the hell am I doing?! Come on, woman, buck your ideas up!’ And I just found it really hard out there this morning. So I had to give myself a bit of a talking to, but actually, in the warm-up the second time around, I was fine.”

Helping her along were some sage and simple words of wisdom from British chef d’equipe Chris Bartle.

“He always gives me the best advice, and he just said ‘stick to the system – it’s all about the eyes,'” she explains. “You’ve got to be on the ball with these types of courses, and you’ve got to almost be looking at part C when you’re jumping part A, and almost go through part B. You’ve got to have long reins and be strong with your body, and that’s so important for me right now because I’m not that strong. When I think I’m sitting up, I’m not – so I was trying to get out the back today.”

Shane Rose and Virgil. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

You know you’re speaking to a true competitor when they lament their 1.6 time penalties as a slow round, but that’s just what Shane Rose did after coming home with Virgil, who steps up to fifth place from 14th.

“I probably went out a little bit more conservative than I would normally, just because no one had gone close to the time when I left,” says Shane. “The plan was to be a little bit further up at the two-minute mark, but other than that early change to the plan, all the distances that I’d planned came off. It’s been five weeks since he’s had a start, so he was just a little keen and I had to touch his mouth a couple of times, about which he wasn’t as obliging as he can be. But he was great.”

Unusually on a Pierre Michelet course, the Australian rider – who travelled for five days with his horse to get here – opted to add a stride in one of the major combinations, the rolltop-corner-skinny combination spiralling down a mound.

“The plan was to do four and four, but he got quite close to the rolltop on the hill and he actually waited more than I expected him to, so I did five and four,” explains Shane. “I think I could have done either, but I decided to play it a bit safe and add.”

Kevin McNab and Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

Australia’s Kevin McNab soared up the leaderboard from 15th to 6th with Scuderia 1918 Don Quidam, adding 10.4 time penalties and enjoying a successful return to the level, at which we last saw him in 2015. It was an impressive debut for the eleven-year-old gelding, too, who finished eleventh in Hartpury’s CCI4*-S at the tail end of the summer.

Tim Price and Ascona M. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

It’s been a day of two halves for Tim Price, who had a chance to recapture the World Number One title after finding himself in the top ten with both Wesko and Ascona M. But fortune didn’t quite play in his favour: though Ascona M, who fell in the water here last year after an exuberant jump, finished clear, Tim took an extraordinarily unlucky dunking when Wesko, placed second after dressage, stumbled en route to the final element of the last water combination on course – a nasty moment of deja-vu after Tim’s similar fall from Ringwood Sky Boy at Burghley.

His ride on Ascona M, who won Luhmühlen this summer, wasn’t plain sailing either. They added 16.4 time penalties after some lapses in communication on course, which forced Tim to change his plan of attack and focus on giving the eleven-year-old mare an educational round.

“She’s been particularly feisty this week,” says Tim with a laugh. “She was just wanting the job, and it’s really difficult with her because she’s got so much talent, and scope, and ability there that I need to take away a bit of the gallop at the fences to do the job, and that costs time. I was aware of that, but it was important to jump the jumps first, and so I did that. It wasn’t probably the most suited to her, this track – it’s particularly twisty this year, and there’s a lot of places you’ve got to be quite nimble. I would have to say ‘right, you need to stay like this,’ and she’d argue a bit, so I’d take away some of the canter and we’d pop the fence and leave one out. I wanted to focus on some fences and then have another look at the clock, then jump a few out of the gallop and try to get her on a bit. That’s my normal way of riding, and the guys who make the time make it look smooth – but it’s not like that when you have to do a little bit of work. On balance, though, she’s still young, and I’m not disappointed – I know who she is, and I’m well used to not being able to always harness her ability.”

Andreas Dibowski and FRH Butts Avedon. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

Though we haven’t seen FRH Butts Avedon at his peak in some time, Germany’s Andreas Dibowski knew that the sixteen-year-old’s time at the top level was coming to a close – and so, spurred on by a win in a CCI4*-S at Strzegom, he decided to bring his formerly prolific five-star mount out for one last shot at a great run.

“He’s the most beautiful horse in the eventing world,” says Andreas fondly of his long-time partner. “I decided very late to come here, but he gave me such a good feeling in the last competition so I made this decision. For me, it was only to enjoy this ride – we will see what happens after this competition, but I think he’s sixteen-years-old and he’s done everything, and for me it’s important to give him a good last competition.”

It paid off. Despite failing to complete here last year, the stalwart Hanoverian picked his way neatly around the troublesome track, adding 16.8 time penalties to climb one spot to eighth.

“He was really motivated and he jumped very well,” says Andreas, who stuck to his guns and went long at the final major combination at 31ABC. “This is his last big competition, and for me, a good result was more important than winning. He had one moment only in the first water, where he didn’t really jump over – he jumped on the top – but then he reacted immediately and the rest was really perfect. At the end, it’s a tough course with all the turns and it needs a lot of power. After every turn, you have to go back to the speed, and that costs a lot of power from the horse.”

Mathieu Lemoine and Tzinga d’Auzay. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

Rio team member Mathieu Lemoine snuck his way into the top ten, finishing in ninth place at the end of the day with the young debutante Tzinga d’Auzay. They added 14.8 time penalties, necessitated by the 10-year-old Selle Français mare’s tiredness at the tail end of the course.

“I nursed Tzinga home after the eighth minute, and it was an obvious choice to take the long route at the final major combination,” he says. “But I’m really pleased with what she’s shown today in her first five-star.”

It’s certainly good news for followers of the much-lauded French rider: after the sale of his Rio mount, Bart L, to Japan’s Yoshi Oiwa, his horsepower has looked thin on the ground. But Tzinga – who he admits isn’t always the easiest horse to ride in the showjumping – looks quite the part at this fledgling stage of her career.

Regis Prud’Hon and Tarastro. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

There was plenty of scope for big move-ups today, and buoyed along by an extraordinarily enthusiastic home crowd, Regis Prud’Hon and Tarastro got the job done, adding 20.4 time penalties and moving up 23 places to round out the top ten overnight in the horse’s first five-star, despite a 20 in their final run at Waregem.

Holly Jacks and More Inspiration. Photo by Kingfisher Media Services.

Holly Jacks has long held the belief that Pau would suit her ex-racehorse More Inspiration, who she used to ride out as a two-year-old on the track, down to the ground – and that conviction proved true today, when they crossed the line with a clear under their belts. That they’d picked up 24.4 time penalties along the way would prove almost inconsequential as the day unfolded: such was the influence of today’s cross-country that they moved from 29th place up to 12th overnight.

“This horse has done so much for me – he’s come back from injury and been my first five-star horse,” says Holly, who describes her ride today as the best of her life. “I’ve always wanted to come here – the last three years I’ve tried to come, and I left the start box the calmest I’ve ever been. Once I jumped through the first water I just knew that we could get through the rest, and I think I did some things here that I didn’t know I could do – he’s always really short-strided, and a few times I saw the big one and just kicked him on. He just pricked his ears and went, and gave me more options than I’d ever had.”

For Ontario, Canada native Holly, this is affirmation of her decision to focus on her education over five-star tracks, rather than putting all her eggs in the championship basket.

“I really just want to get five-star miles, and I have a lot of amazing people behind me, so I wanted to ride with my coaches and follow my system,” she says. “It’s put me in a different mindframe to focus on that, rather than to chase teams.”

Tomorrow sees us head into the final horse inspection at 9.30 a.m. local time/8.30 a.m. BST/3.30 a.m. Eastern, followed by showjumping from 14.30 local/13.30 BST/8.30 a.m. Eastern. We’ll be bringing you all the news that’s fit to print – so join us tomorrow with plenty of French attitude. Until then – Go Eventing! (Or Pau eventing, we guess?)

The top ten at the culmination of cross-country at Pau.

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