Bubby Upton and Cannavaro. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
How do you solve a problem like Storm Benjamin? You cancel your Thursday plans and move 54 dressage tests to Friday, if you’re a mad collective of French event organisers and you’re absolutely determined to put on the final five-star of the year. So that’s what we did here at Pau, and if I had to sum up the experience of churning through a competition at this pace, I’d reckon it would suffice to say that by the time we wrapped the final test, I got struck with a migraine so severe that I couldn’t see my screen for a full hour and I came dangerously close to throwing up on Bubby Upton’s shoes. So that’s nice! Some days, EN is a place of serious sporting journalism; some days it’s a glorified blog in which I whinge about my ailments. Today it might be both, somehow, all at once.
Back to Bubby Upton, though, whose shoes remain delightfully unsoiled and whose scoresheets, similarly, looked pretty damn clean today. She finishes the day – and the first phase – with three horses in serious contention: 18-year-old Cannavaro holds the overnight lead on a 25.6, 10-year-old Bramham winner Its Cooley Time sits sixth on 28.5, and the stalwart Cola is 12th on 30.3. Not at all a bad day in the office, nor a bad set of odds to carry onwards into tomorrow’s busy cross-country day.
It’s poignant, too, to see Cannavaro at the forefront of Bubby’s three rides here. Like his rider, who fought her way back from a near-catastrophic broken back, Cannavaro has also spent plenty of time on the sidelines – we last saw him at this level back in 2022, when he finished sixth here at Pau, and then he sat out the 2023 and 2024 seasons before returning to competition this spring.
“He’s such a special old boy, and it’s been such a team effort to bring him back,” says Bubby, who is one of three three-horse riders here this week. “We tried to bring him back last year, and then we decided to give him a bit more time and come back at the start of this year.”
Her plan, she says, “was always Aachen [in July], but then, with him being an older horse coming back from an injury, we took each week as it came. He was amazing at Aachen, and I had kind of thought that that would maybe be his last one – but then he came out of it so well that we thought, ‘sure, we’ll get him as fit as possible for Pau, and if he holds up to it, amazing. If he doesn’t, then he can just have an easier retirement.’”
Bubby Upton and Cannavaro. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tomorrow, she explains, is a task to be tackled in the same way as Cannavaro’s comeback: one step at a time, and listening to what her horse tells her the whole way.
“Knock on wood, we’ll see how he goes,” she says. “I just hope I can do him justice, because I’ve let him down a couple of times at five-star before getting it right.”
Today, though, both horse and rider ticked every box, and Bubby was delighted to improve upon their previous Pau dressage performance.
“I was pleased with his test three years ago, but it was just a bit flatter that day, and I was disappointed with the scoring,” says Bubby, who has had Cannavaro since he was a ten-year-old, and has produced him throughout his eventing trajectory after an initial career as a showjumper.
“He’s not necessarily a natural dressage horse – it’s all come in the last three or four years. He did a beautiful test at Luhmühlen [in 2022] when he lead the first phase, and that was the first time it all came together, and the first time he got all his flying changes in a test. Obviously he’s now very consolidated, but it wasn’t like that at the start at all: if you look at his marks, it’s only three years ago that he ‘got’ it. Now, he’s so confident in the dressage; he used to get so nervous and walk like a little sewing machine and get so stressed because he was trying so hard, and he’d know he was struggling and get more and more short. Whereas now, he goes in and he’s so relaxed and confident in himself. He’s so sweet – he’s so insecure compared to the other two who are full of self-belief and confidence.”
Bubby Upton and Its Cooley Time. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Though sixth-placed Its Cooley Time is “probably the most naturally gifted of the three in the dressage,” he’s also Bubby’s least experienced ride here this week: he won his CCI4*-L debut in June of this year at Bramham, and was called up for the FEI European Eventing Championships at Blenheim last month, though a peck on landing over a fence ultimately saw Bubby hit the deck in one of the many shocks for the British contingent on cross-country day. But even as a relatively green horse, it’s evident how much ‘Finn’ matures and improves from every competitive outing.
“He’s on the other end of the spectrum to the other two, with this being his first five-star and him being so inexperienced,” says Bubby. “So for him to go in and do that today, I was absolutely thrilled, because he’s a very, very spooky, sharp horse.”
A huge boon for Finn this week has been the opportunity to properly familiarise and school in the competition arena, a luxury he’s never been afforded before.
“Because it’s on a surface, we can familiarise them thoroughly, which makes such a difference to all the other events. This is his first-ever three-day at four-star or above where he’s actually been able to familiarise, because at places like Bramham [with a grass arena], you’re only allowed to walk around the outside. And all the CCI4*-S classes, you don’t get to familiarise either, unless you’re abroad.”
So it was, she continues, “really nice for him to feel really comfortable in there, although as I was going in, he spotted the cameraman – so there are still little things like that where he’s so attentive and sharp. But he stayed so with me.”
Just one small mistake in the third flying change precluded an even more competitive score for the pair.
“I was just a bit soft in my aid – I thought he’d just pop it, and he didn’t, and that was completely my fault,” concedes Bubby. “He was fantastic throughout the rest of the test.”
Bubby Upton and Cannavaro. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Perhaps one of the most interesting things about Bubby’s trio of horses here this week is how they represent different eras of her own fledgling career: Cannavaro, as a former showjumper and late convert to eventing, has been a ‘rebuilding’ project in so many ways; longtime partner Cola has been with her throughout her Junior and Young Rider career and was the horse on whom she learned how to produce a top-level horse; Its Cooley Time has been in her string since he was five and has had her ‘new’ production system throughout his career, and has, as such, benefitted from everything she’s learned along the way with his stablemates.
“I was saying to mum in the lorry, I’d do anything to have Cola again now [from the start], because my trainer, Amy Woodhead, has been with my and Its Cooley Time the whole way up, and it’s made such a difference,” says Bubby. “Cannavaro, we had to completely redo because he was a showjumper, and Cola is a very long horse, so it’s been a bit more of a struggle. He’s incredible, honestly, to have done what he’s done – to have won the medals at Young Riders and time and time again to have delivered at five-star. He’s my horse of a lifetime, and he’s taught me so much for all the other horses. I remember Boyd Martin saying to me at Maryland last year that he goes out and does the same test pretty much ever time out, whether it’s four- or five-star, and sometimes he gets a 25, sometimes a 28, sometimes a 30, depending on how they’re marking that day. But he’s so consistent, and so lovely to ride in the arena because I know exactly what he’s going to be and the preparations that work. And it’s just such a joy to have him feeling so good at this level after having him so long – he’s such a fighter, and he always keeps digging for me.”
Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tom McEwen is Bubby’s closest rival after the culmination of the first phase. He sits second with the 16-year-old Brookfield Quality, who posted a 26.1 – just marginally lower than the 25.8 he posted en route to a final third place here last year.
“He’s very consistent with his work, so I was really pleased everything,” says Tom, who was one of rather a lot of riders to find today’s marking perhaps lacking in ‘oomph’.
“It was pretty much a complete clear round; the changes were really nice, especially the last one, so when I looked up and saw sevens, I was a bit disappointed with some of the judges, because they were giving sevens to late changes earlier and fours to clean changes. So it’s been a little different — but how Norris went was brilliant, and I couldn’t have been happier with him.”
‘Norris’ has always been a unique character: the former Piggy March ride doesn’t like to be around other horses, and so Tom moderates his warm-up to allow him plenty of time and space away from his competitors.
“He loves being by himself, and he actually really likes to be the centre of attention, so he absolutely loves being in the arena,” he says. “He’s been really good in arena familiarisation, and when other people start coming in, that’s the time to leave. He’s done little and often, but he’s been brilliant — he knows what he’s doing, and he’s of age now.”
|I’ve done 15 minutes [of warm-up] then gone in,” he continues. “By nature, he holds himself – like, he’s got a little bit of a natural sort of lift, so we just leave it in him, rather than take it out and work him too hard. I’ve gone the opposite way and do less with him, and he seems to be very happy. We had a nice ride this morning, and then 15 minutes before the test.”
That warm-up routine also fits in well with how he works at home: “He doesn’t really like the arena at home, so he works on grass most of the year. We don’t jump him at home, so we always take him out and jump.”
Reminiscent, perhaps, of another of Tom’s former top horses, Toledo de Kerser, who also couldn’t jump at home – and who won here back in 2019.
“Maybe I’m the problem, actually,” muses Tom with a grin.
Oliver Townend and Ballaghmor Class. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Equal second place is also the provisional domain of Oliver Townend and the most experienced horse in the field, the warhorse Ballaghmor Class. It was, we’ll admit, a bit of a surprise to see the 18-year-old four-time five-star winner on the line-up for this week’s event: he didn’t run in an FEI event until just a couple of weeks ago, after being withdrawn at the second horse inspection at Badminton this spring.
It wasn’t just us who were caught by surprise by the entry – even Oliver admits that it wasn’t something he’d planned for.
“We didn’t really plan to [bring him here], to tell you the truth, but he convinced us that he’d not done enough yet, which is amazing and hard to believe,” he says. “I’ve not ever come to a five-star where I’m thinking, ‘no, no, no,’ and he’s gone, ‘yes, yes, yes,’ all the way.”
But, he says, his doubts were dispelled by that return to FEI competition in the CCI4*-S at Little Downham at the end of September.
“We took him to give him a preparation run, and he was fairly wild and didn’t give me too much of an easy time,” Oliver laughs. “He ran off with me around the cross country, and he was pretty wild in the dressage, and I said to Karyn [Schuter], we’ll give him half a proper run, just to see what he comes out like, and the next day he towed everyone around the yard.”
“[When he’s on form] he’s pretty horrible to deal with for the girls, but a pleasure for me to ride when we get the management of him right,” he continues. “And today, he just went in like an old pro. He was pretty push-button, and couldn’t be happier with his performance today, really. I don’t really want to talk about the dressage scoring — I prefer to make it all about him, but he felt as good as he’s ever felt, and I think that was probably as good a test as he’s done at five-star level.”
Though it didn’t ultimately rival the pair’s best-ever scores at this level, their 26.1 puts the pair well into the hunt going into the gelding’s first-ever run around Pau.
“I’m just hoping that he’s not going to know his way, and that he’ll actually ask me a couple of questions for once,” grins Oliver. “He’s done an Olympics, and that looked like it wasn’t his type of course, but there isn’t really a course that isn’t his type of course. He knows his way around Badminton, Burghley, Kentucky and now Maryland. And as I said, I’m just hoping that he looks at the crowd and looks at the trees and doesn’t run off with me like he did last time out!”
Tim Price and Jarillo. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Tim Price, like Bubby, is triple-handed this week – “I was supposed to have four, but unfortunately the fourth couldn’t come, so I’m looking at it as a bit of a bonus that it’s only three tests today” – and, like Bubby, he’s got two of his rides in the top ten after dressage. Best of the trio is 11-year-old Jarillo, who was the last horse in the ring today, and who posted a 26.5 to sit fourth overnight.
“He’s such a lovely horse. He’s so talented, and life comes, physically, very easy to him – but mentally, quite tough,” says Tim. “He’s a sharp little guy; he’s very spooky. He’s very horse shy, but that’s why it’s so nice to get A, to the end of the season, and B, down here, where we have a nice place to work them each day, and he’s just relaxed each day. And then in there, he’s just a joy, easy-peasy.”
He is, Tim continues, “coming of age a bit. He’s done one and a half five-stars now, and he’s just starting to get more campaigned, where he realises it’s a safe space in the arena, and so he can stay with me, like he does at home. He’s just incredibly horse shy. Like I just passed Bubby, who was stood still here, but if she was walking there, he would stop and run backwards. He’s just a sharp character. He’s super talented, and he’s very alert, and I like to think that gets us a long way along the road.”
Tim also sits ninth overnight with Happy Boy on a score of 29.1: “He’s been working really well, and he’s on good form. He’s in good health. But for me, he’s just such an all-rounder, that’s where he’s been successful in the past, doing a pretty good dressage and then running home with that mark and then having a good result. I’m just hoping for something similar here.”
His first ride of the day, the former Georgie Campbell ride and five-star debutant Global Quest, sits 39th on a 34.9, but so tightly-packed is the leaderboard that that puts him less than ten penalties off the lead at this early stage.
Abigail Long and Henton Audacious. Photo by Hannah Cole Photography.
Fifth place went to a surprise contender in New Zealand’s Abigail Long, who piloted Henton Audacious to an exciting early lead with the first sub-30 score of the day – a smart 27.9 in their five-star debut. That’s a significant personal best for the pair, whose previous international best at any level is a 33.7.
“I’ve always known she’s got a nice test in her, it’s been about figuring her brain out,” says Abigail of ‘Daphnee’, who she’s had since she was four years old and who she describes as “my little heart horse – I love her so much.”
Daphnee was originally purchased for a bargain on Facebook as a failed dressage horse, whose former owners “didn’t think she had a good enough hind leg, so were selling her to be anything.”
In the eight years since, the pair have been learning the ropes together and, sometimes, getting creative in how they tackle the task at hand – and that was the key to today’s exceptional performance, says Abigail.
“This week has been a bit of an experiment, with the help of Jonelle Price. I’ve only dressage schooled her once, and that really helped — she was with me the whole time. We took her for a gallop, jumped her, did polework – it’s all about her brain, making sure she’s in a good headspace. Staying away from schooling kept her sweet, so she was happy to go in there and do everything, rather than thinking, ‘This is the sixth time we’ve done dressage and I’m over it’.”
Alex Hua Tian and Chicko. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
China’s Alex Hua Tian slots into seventh place after Bubby and Its Cooley Time, putting up a score of 28.9 with Chicko, with whom he finished fourth here last year.
“I’m so happy with him. He’s a real cutie, because he’s not necessarily physically the most talented horse, but he just incrementally improves and improves and improves,” says Alex. “And every six months, I think I’ve got as much as I’m ever going to get out of him. And every six months, another six months later, it’s like, ‘Oh, we’ve hit another dimension!’ So I’m really pleased.”
Today, he says, “he just really stayed with me. He’s a really long horse, and he finds the longitudinal suppleness really hard and that’s where I’ve in the past had to play a very fine line between pushing him a little bit to give me a little bit more spring, and just taking what I get. And today, I really felt like I could push him and ask for more.”
Emily King and Valmy Biats. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Emily King and her stalwart Valmy Biats slot into eighth place on a score of 29, despite a slightly ill-judged four tacos immediately before their test.
“I will not be doing that before cross-country,” she laughs with a grimace.
But despite that, she says, “Val was really good – we had a few little wobbles and a little bit of a lack of rhythm in places, but he was really good.”
Emily also has the debutant Jackpot here this week, who currently sits in 30th on a 33 – and this, notably, is the first time she’ll ever have piloted two horses around a five-star, which is a prospect she’s looking forward to.
“Jack, he’s a sweetheart. I’ve never had him not want to do it if he understands the question. So I think I’ll just try and make it extra obvious to him and really try and fill him with confidence. Obviously, it’s his first one, so it’d be interesting to see how he takes it on — and Val, I know him so well, but also then I don’t want to start overthinking things, because I know know him so well. It’s the first time I’ve had two at five-star, so it’ll be interesting having a spin on one first, and then actually having Valmy second. Hopefully it will give me a little bit more feeling to ride him better.”
Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
The top ten is rounded out by Boyd Martin on Liz Halliday’s Olympic partner Cooley Nutcracker, who scored a 29.9 in his ‘Keep Fighting, Liz!’ saddlepad to slot into a competitive position. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stop Boyd for a chat, because he was busy with another role straight after his test: he and Bali helped provide the ring for a very special proposal in the collecting ring, from owner Rob Desino to partner Joe. Congratulations, lovebirds! We’ll be sure to catch up with Boyd to find out more about how he and Bali are getting along tomorrow.
Double-handed Tiana Coudray slots into eighteenth place with Cancaras Girl on a 31, and into 24th with the exciting D’Artagnan on 31.6, while Cosby Green is 33rd and 38th, respectively, with Highly Suspicious (33.3) and Jos Ufo de Quidam (34.8). Grace Taylor sits 20th with Game Changer on a 31.1, and Jenny Caras and Sommersby put forward some really smart work en route to a 32 and 25th. Finally, Emily Hameland Corvett are waiting in the wings in 42nd on a 35, thanks to 18-year-old Barry’s refusal to accept his own age – a real delight to watch, actually, as the little warhorse takes on the final of the northern hemisphere five-stars on his list.
Tomorrow’s cross-country phase will kick off at the rather sociable time of 12.00 p.m. (11.00 a.m. BST/6.00 a.m. EST) with former Pau winners Jonelle Price and Grappa Nera first out of the box. You can take a look at the twisty, turny, forward-striding course designed by Pierre Michelet here, and keep it locked onto EN for some thoughts from our competitors on what’s been built for them. We’ll be bringing you live updates and a bumper debrief tomorrow, and you can watch along on Pau TV, too, as we dive into the final five-star of 2025. Let’s Go Eventing!
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