Defending champions lead bumper Pau field on sub-20 dressage: ‘He lifted when he came in’

Defending Pau Horse Trials champions Ros Canter and Izilot DHI recorded a new CCI5* personal best to top the dressage results in their quest to defend their title.

The Pau Horse Trials dressage leaderboard has undergone a total overhaul today (25 October), with an exciting – if damp – day of sport at the final five-star of 2024.

Ros and the 11-year-old gelding, whom she owns with Alex Moody, are on a score of 19 ahead of tomorrow’s cross-country – shaving 0.9 of a penalty from their previous best of 19.9, which they set at Burghley in September.

The pair have a 5.6-penalty lead over Emily King (Valmy Biats) and Oliver Townend (Cooley Rosalent), who are tied for second place at this stage on 24.6. Thursday’s dressage leaders Tom McEwen and Brookfield Quality now hold fourth on 25.8.

Mercurial talent “Isaac” looked confident and relaxed – his score sheet peppered with eights and nines, and a brace of 10s for his halts the crowning moments in a harmonious test.

“I thought we’d probably done a little bit too much [in the warm-up], he was a bit heavy on the rein out there. But then he lifted when he came into the ring – he heard the clapping from Boyd [Martin’s] test and was really lovely to ride,” said Ros.

“He’s a real professional now. What I’m really delighted about is that last year he came in there and he found the camera quite spooky – it took a while for me to get round it. He was then good when he got in there, but today he just went straight past it. It just shows how much he’s come on in a year.”

The top 10 after dressage is filled with Brits and Kiwi combinations. Clarke Johnstone heads the three New Zealand partnerships at the business end of proceedings at this stage. He is now in fifth place with his Paris 2024 ride Menlo Park (26.3).

Yasmin Ingham has slotted into sixth with her experienced campaigner Rehy DJ (26.5), owned by Janette Chinn and The Sue Davies Fund.

“He was super accurate. He’s not big and flashy, like Banzai Du Loir or other big flashy movers, but when he does everything I ask him to do on the right marker, he’s accurate, consistent and will be in the mix – and that’s where we want to be,” she said.

“We got here on Monday night and having a Friday test has massively benefited him. It meant I could get him out of his stable several times a day, even if was just for a hack or hand-grazing or a bit of schooling. So he’s plenty familiar with the place.

“He’s been in the main arena twice now, so that’s always a really big help. He had a jump this morning, which normally brightens him up, he gets a bit bored with dressage! We gave him a fun jump and it seemed to put him in the right frame of mind for this afternoon.”

New Zealand rider Samantha Lissington’s partnership with the elegant Lord Seekonig, who joined her string in 2022, is now really blossoming. Their score of 26.7 means they hold provisional seventh and are in touch with the leaders.

“I’d been really struggling with the left-to-right flying change, because he can be a bit spooky, and then focuses more on the judging box than he does on me, so I’m pleased that he stayed with me for that,” said Samantha.

“In his test at Luhmühlen, he got really muddled with so many changes in one test, whereas I felt like he knew what he was doing here. He felt prepared for all of them, without anticipating, which is quite a tough thing to get at this age and stage of training.”

Selina Milnes and Cooley Snapchat are now in eighth (27.1), Tim Price and Jarillo are in ninth (27.2), with Piggy March and Halo completing the top 10 (27.4).

In total, 18 of the 73 competitors broke the 30 barrier, and there are just 15 penalties between the top 41 starters.

Thursday’s sunshine gave way to continuous rain. Changes will be made to Saturday’s cross-country course, which had walked soft even before this deluge.

Pau Horse Trials cross-country is scheduled to start at 10.30am UK time (11.30am local time).

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