Pau CCI**** Cross Country | The Course, The Competition & The Crowd

Mr Cruise Control | Still the "Horse To Take Home From Pau"

Well, What A Day, What A Four Star! After today Pau is definitely on my calendar as a permanent fixture! The weather and the end of season atmosphere certainly helps, but this is also a very interesting track. Pierre Michelet had clearly planned the placement of every fence to the last millimetre, making use of every opportunity to break concentration, and force riders to think how their horses might react.

Pau CIC** Cross Country ✔ Done

Paul Tapner Foot Perfect In The CIC** Cross Country To Maintain His Lead Of 4.8 Points

The two star cross country from Pau has been full of thrills and spills, with a large number of the field stumbling and fumbling their way through the water fences, whether they went clear or not. It is a lovely course with far less mole hills to deal with compared to the four star track.

Paul Tapner has maintained his lead heading into the showjumping, and both  he and Andrew Nicholson (in 2nd place) provided a masterclass in cross country riding, with the two cleanest rounds of the day, on a track that was not helped by a low early morning sun and most of the fences in shade.