Pau
Pau and my 2011 season finished on an unbelievable note with Oslo winning and Lionheart finishing 3rd.
Oslo jumped a superb clear round to finish on his dressage score and win by a margin of six marks. This weekend was a big step up for him and he has more than answered all the questions. He took the whole competition in his stride taking very little out of himself and giving huge pleasure to The Fox-Pitt Eventing Partnership, his owners, and his breeder Phillippe Brevious. It was particularly satisfying to jump clear in the show jumping, as it was the first time I have ever achieved this at Pau. Having come so close to finish 2nd with Navigator last year it was very exciting to have finally won all five CCI****’s.
Lionheart was so unlucky to role a pole at the first fence but he jumped out if his skin during the rest of the round and despite the four faults still moved up to 3rd, recording his best ever result and putting himself right into contention for 2012. He also impressed me throughout and I feel very lucky to have two such exciting horses coming on.
Sadly poor Macchiato did not fair so well. Having jumped the first few fences I could feel he was finding the going very tough and he just did not feel right. He ended up with a bit of a cricket score which is very unlike him and very sad. Hopefully nothing too serious will transpire.
It was a much deserved win for Mary King in the HSBC Classics Series. Although our scores ended up very close her 4th place today gave her the result she needed to stay ahead. The exciting climax is exactly what HSBC are after and I am thrilled to have finished 2nd.
With high temperatures and very tight times it was a fairly hectic schedule all weekend but thankfully with Jackie, Charlie & Fred organising everything to perfection things went pretty smoothly with only the odd minor tight spot! It was great that Hannah came out too, not only to help with the Fox-Pitt Partnership but also to lend a hand to all of us.
We now have quite a long drive home but it is made all the easier after a day like today!
Click here to see the full results from Pau.
