Pau is traditionally a five-star that entices debutants at the level. It falls right at the end of the European season, when horses have had plenty of events under their belt and the younger ones have more months of maturity and experience. At this year’s Pau Horse Trials, 16 first-timers tackled the cross-country track, nearly a third of the field.
Several of these debutants particularly impressed, with three of them among the total six clears inside the time. These first-timers may well become major players at future five-stars and championships.
The standout superstar was Sarah Bullimore’s home-bred Corimiro, who blitzed around at nine years old like a far more experienced campaigner to take the lead.
Horses to follow from Pau Horse Trials
Further down the order due to less dazzling dressage marks, two debutant eye-catchers both came from the Monart Sale in Ireland. This pair of Irish-bred 10-year-olds Boleybawn Macrae, ridden by Sam Ecroyd, and Astier Nicolas’ ride Dirty Old Town cruised round inside the time to fly up the leaderboard at the conclusion of the Pau Horse Trials cross-country phase.
The 10th horse to leave the startbox, Boleybawn Macrae was the first horse to make the 11min 6sec optimum time, by some 16sec. The Boleybawn Ectasy-sired gelding – owned by Stewart and Vicki Irlam — made the biggest climb up the rankings, from 37th to 12th, and clocked the fastest round of the day to stay on 34.5.
“He’s always been a really quick horse, though he was wild when he was young,” said Sam. “But I remember when I did my first BE100 on him he was so hyper-coordinated and focused, I thought, ‘this is a proper horse’. I’ve been lucky to have been supported by amazing owners, but I’ve not had the opportunity to ride a lot of proven top horses, so that feeling I had – I didn’t know if it was true or not.
“He has the ability to gallop, be organised, make any distance; he’s easy to ride. What makes him quick isn’t a fast gallop, it’s unbelievable trust in him that he’s going to sort his jump out. I can leave him alone and let him travel. The less you interfere, the better.
“I’ve had him since he was three from the Monart Sale,” Sam added. “The guy who was selling him said, ‘he’ll either go round Burghley or you’ll call me in two months and say you can’t get on it’ – those were the two options.”
“I knew he’d go five-star at six years old”
Dirty Old Town was foot-perfect round Pierre Michelet’s track to move up from 21st to fifth overnight (on the same score, 31.2, as compatriot Benjamin Massie on Filao De Perle), but the Irish Sport Horse hasn’t given Astier the easiest time this week.
“He’s a weird person but he’s very honest cross-country,” said the French rider. “He’s a cool horse, but always a little bit difficult, he can rear and buck, but I’ve learnt it’s not against me!
“That’s how he got loose when I was about to get on yesterday, and warmed up for 10 minutes on his own yesterday before I could catch him, ruining everybody’s warm-up. And another thing is if he has to pass a cross-country fence and he’s not supposed to jump it, he’s very unhappy. It’s like he has a disease that tells him, ‘I have to jump between white and red’. It’s a good problem to have.”
Astier knew the grey had five-star potential from a young age.
“I bought him at Monart when he was three, and by the time he was six, I thought he could be a five-star horse,” Astier said. “At seven, I would have bet on it, but I just had to wait and see.
“He was fast today without trying, just staying in a constant rhythm. He’s not a big horse, so he’s good with these twisty courses even if I don’t love it. He’d be a good horse on a rangy track too.”
Astier was aiming Dirty Old Town for Burghley as his first five-star, until the French selectors asked him to be reserve for the Europeans, where Astier won team bronze with Alertamalib’Or.
Another round that caught the eye over the Pau Horse Trials cross-country course was amateur rider Libby Seed on Heartbreaker Star Quality. Not only had she logged her personal best dressage score (30.4) by some margin at this level, but she clocked her fastest time at five-star.
“It’s the fastest I’ve ever gone,” said Libby, after adding 4.4 time-faults to lie in 14th place overnight. “I’ve been working on my speed for a long time – with the late Caroline Moore and Kylie Roddy. I’m a control freak and it takes a long time to get comfortable with going at these big fences at speed, and trusting that the bigger stride pattern is actually safer.
“We cruised round, she just went at her own speed. The fences kept coming nicely and I met them nearly all on a good stride.”
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An ‘oops’ drop and a lot of water: 9 cross-country questions to challenge the world’s top horses and riders at Pau five-star
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