At the top of the provisional leaderboard after the dressage test, still in the lead after the cross-country competition, and after a splendid clean sweep in the show-jumping competition this afternoon, British rider Tom McEwen rode to victory, winning his first CCI 5*-L on his French Saddle gelding, Toledo de Kerser. He came in ahead of two Australians: Christopher Burton with Quality Purdey, and Shane Rose on Virgil. The best French rider after the cross-country competition, Olympic team champion Mathieu Lemoine, maintained his position, finishing ninth in the final ranking on his mare Tzinga d’Auzay, who was competing for the very first time at this level at the Pau 5-Star event.
Canada’s Holly Jacks-Smither, the only North American in the competition, placed 12th aboard her 14-year-old TB gelding More Inspiration (‘Morris’). Holly scored 36.0 in dressage, the pair had a clear cross-country round with 24.4 time penalties, and two rails in the show jumping phase to finish with a score of 68.4.
Holly Jacks and More Inspiration. (Nicolas Hodys Photographie)
Holly reviewed her performance over the three phases. “Dressage is never our strongest phase, but he actually went out there and put in his personal best five-star test. I was thrilled with him. He went out there and put his whole heart into the test.
“My goal cross-country was to come home originally with less than 10 time faults, but after I watched Tim Price go out and have a bunch of time, I didn’t know if that was realistic. So after watching the first ten go out before me, I just wanted to jump around clear. And he as he started jumping around, I started picking up the pace a little bit, and he was fabulous. He was better than I ever could have imagined. It was intense trying to make the time; it is a really twisty course, basically right in the city of Pau.”
Two rails in the show jumping phase were surprising and disappointing, the first coming at the final combination when another horse and rider were released into the ring. “He was jumping brilliantly and then he just lost focus for a second and had a rail, which was upsetting,” Holly admitted. “But he was great. Obviously, it was frustrating to have two rails and I could have finished in the top 10, but I’m thrilled with the overall results being twelfth.” Another goal met was satisfying the Olympic qualification criteria, which they accomplished in spades.
Holly will be touching down back in Canada on Thursday and then heading to the Royal Winter Fair on Friday to catch-ride a horse in the Horseware Indoor Eventing Challenge. Morris is on his way to Florida, where they will reunite for the winter and enjoy a little well-earned vacation before setting their sights on Land Rover Kentucky or possibly Badminton. “I’ll play it by ear.”
Tom McEwen (GB):
“The Pau 5-Star event is the first CCI 5*-L that I have won in my riding career. My horse was just fantastic in the show jumping test. He was fantastic to ride and made a great clear round. All I had to do was guide him properly, make sure the stride was right and the rest just took care of itself.”
Shane Rose (AUS):
“ ‘Je suis très content’” (he said in French for the home crowds). “I’d like to send special wishes to my wife who has stayed at home with our four children and enabled me to come here to France to compete in this amazing competition on the other side of the world. The dressage test didn’t go as well as I’d have liked but the cross-country course and the show-jumping went well. It’s the second time I have competed here in the Pau 5-Star event, and this time round I had a much better experience.”
Mathieu Lemoine (FRA):
“I set out on the show-jumping circuit with two bars’ credit to keep the place I had on the leader board after the cross-country competition. The surface was really great and was perfect for my mare. She knocked down two bars, but we’ve had far worse results at a lower level. We know her well now, she has her strong and weak points, just like any horse, but she’s got an amazingly generous personality, and that’s why she more than deserves today’s ranking.
Pascal Sayous, organiser of the Pau 5-star event:
“Without the Brits, a really powerful nation in eventing, there just wouldn’t even be a CCI 5*. It’s been a very long time since a British rider won in Pau and it’s a real honour to have such an accomplished rider take first place here today – and on a French horse too!”
Complete results here.
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