Returning title contenders Emily King and Valmy Biats at Pau in 2024. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
What a welcome to the final CCI5* of the year: yesterday, we took our first turn around the course in high-70s sunshine, and today, we’ve gone back to bed because the wind is so wild and woolly that today’s first day of competition at Les 5 Etoiles de Pau has been near enough wiped off the map.
The intended schedule for today, and Pau’s ordinary way of running things, would have seen our competitors trot up at 10.00 a.m., while a small group would have completed their dressage tests from 14.30 p.m. onwards. Then, we’d have looked ahead to a full day of dressage on Friday and a normal schedule from thereon out.
But we’d wager that nobody on site or in the local area got much sleep last night thanks to some fairly aggressive wind, which hit Pau at speeds of 50mph and higher, prompting a severe weather warning along the west coast of the country that prophesied wind “likely to seriously hamper human activity. Severe damage is expected. Heavy winds may disrupt road, rail, maritime and air traffic locally.”
So now we’ve got a day in bed listening to the wind, although in many ways, the forecast has improved: the 14mm or so of rain that was meant to be dumped over the horse inspection has significantly decreased, which will be no small relief to anybody who experienced the Great Pau Paddling Pool of 2024, when much of the track was underwater and several minutes were cut out of the course due to extreme weather. The first horse inspection will now be held this afternoon at 17.00 local time (16.00 BST/11.00 a.m. EST), while all 55 horses and riders will come forward for dressage from 9.00 a.m. local time (8.00 a.m. BST/3.00 a.m. EST) tomorrow. Thoughts and prayers to all three-horse riders and their hard-working grooms, who will have a very big day.
In the meantime, get comfortable and prepare yourself for what will be a seriously exciting conclusion to the season, if we can get this show on the road. We’ll have a form guide winging its way to you very soon, and you can find all the pertinent info and links on the event and EN’s coverage in our Ultimate Guide, available right here.
EN is proud to welcome Horsepal onboard as the sponsor of our Pau coverage! Horsepal is a newly-launched heart rate monitor brought to you by Tom MacGuinness, founder of Horseware and an FEI eventer and endurance rider, who’s brought his decades of knowledge to practice in the design of Horsepal. You can now purchase Horsepal directly to the UK and Europe — learn more here.
Les 5 Etoiles de Pau (France): [Website] [Schedule] [Entries/Timing/Scoring] [Live Stream] [EN’s Coverage] [Support Our Sponsor: Horsepal]
