‘He said, “hold my beer Mum, I’ve got this”’: five-star newcomer scorches round Pau cross-country to lead despite malfunctioning stopwatch

Coromiro, a nine-year-old on his first attempt at five-star, coasted into the lead in the Pau Horse Trials cross-country phase. Ridden by Sarah Bullimore, the chestnut breezed round an influential track 11sec inside the time to move up from 11th after dressage to top spot to set up a tantalising showdown in the final phase. The top 10 are covered by just one rail.

At 10min 55sec, Coromiro clocked the second-fastest round of the day over Pierre Michelet’s influential track.

Remarkably, Sarah’s stopwatch malfunctioned before halfway, meaning she rode on feel alone.

“I just let him travel and he’s got such a phenomenal stride,” said Sarah, who rode Coromiro’s mother Lilly Corinne to finish 13th at Pau in 2017, the year after her son was born.

“He’s only nine, so I wasn’t riding him specifically to make the time, just travelling comfortably. When he finished, he was saying ‘where next, where next?’ I had to say, ‘you’ve finished, whoa!’ He felt like he could go round again.

“He was unreal. The only place I changed my plan was to hold for four strides in a couple of the distances after watching everyone this morning, so I had to make sure I got him back, and he was quite strong. It’s like he said, ‘Alright Mum, I can see it, hold my beer!’.”

The overnight dressage leaders, Bubby Upton and Cannavaro, held on to a podium spot in second after adding 4.8 time-faults to sit just 0.4 of a penalty adrift of Coromiro.

Pau is the 18-year-old Cannavaro’s first five-star since finishing sixth here three years ago, and boosted Bubby’s spirits after falls on both her other two rides, Cola and Its Cooley Time.

“To be out of the sport for two and a half years, and to come back and do that at 18 years old, with about 20% thoroughbred – it’s all down to his heart and the trust he has in me,” said Bubby of Cannavaro. “There is no other reason why he should do that; he dug so deep, he was just extraordinary.

“He owes me nothing, and I was only going to do this if he felt up for it. But he just loves his job so much – it means the world to me. It’s why we put in the hours and why I spend the time with them, and give them all the love and trust, because of the rewards of days like today.”

How the cross-country phase played out

With Sarah leapfrogging up the leaderboard 10 places to depose Bubby from the top, the end of the Pau Horse Trials cross-country phase was full of suspense. Half of the final 10 riders could have taken the lead with clears inside the time. Even into the final four, three – Boyd Martin (Cooley Nutcracker), Bubby (Its Cooley Time) and Tim Price (Jarillo) – could have relegated Sarah.

But none could do it.  Tim and Jarillo did best of this trio, stopping the clock for 4.4 time-faults to take third place overnight, despite taking a long route at the third water – which claimed several notable victims. These included Oliver Townend’s Ballaghmor Class, nursing second spot, who broke a frangible pin at the middle corner element; and joint-second Tom McEwen (Brookfield Quality). Tom’s horse also incurred 11 penalties for the pin, then ran out at the third element and Tom elected to retire after jumping the final triple brush in that combination.

“I should have gone straight at that water!” said Tim. “But it’s an unpredictable fence and you could ride it well and it still doesn’t come up right every time. It’s one of the only frangible fences on the course and you don’t want to knock one of those down. So I decided that I was good on the clock at that stage though I lost a bit coming home. I decided to play the percentages this time.”

France as a nation is scantily represented at their home five-star, but two of their riders gave exhibition rounds of how to ride a Pierre Michelet track. Both Astier Nicolas (Dirty Old Town) and Benjamin Massie (Filao De Perle) started cross-country in 21st place, and stormed round well inside the time. Benjamin sits in fourth by virtue of being 6sec closer to the optimum time, with Astier the faster round.

Last year, Benjamin fell over one of the final fences in the arena, so made amends this time.

“I think the French riders have an advantage with Pierre Michelet’s courses because we jump them every month, so we are used to them,” Benjamin said. “Astier and I were both up on our clocks even before we went on to the racecourse [where historically riders expect to make up time].”

David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed earned redemption after falls at both Badminton and Burghley this year with a smashing round, inside the time, to climb from 26th to sixth.

“He was absolutely magic,” said David. “We had him a little ruder again, a bit perkier as he was just a bit too quiet and settled at Burghley. We put a bit of the anger back in the tank and although the dressage was not as good, he jumped round really neat and tidy. He’s been round the five-star here three times and the old three-star as well so he’s a Pau professional.”

There were six horses inside the time from the 53 starters, the first being Sam Ecroyd and Boleybawn Macrae, a five-star newcomer. They were 16sec under the 11min 6sec optimum, by far the quickest all day. This propelled them up from 37th after dressage to 12th, only 4.5 penalties behind the leader.

Sixty percent of the field jumped clear. There were eight eliminations and two retirements. Besides five rider falls, there was one horse fall, Ardeo Premier and Alex Bragg, but the organisation reported no major injuries to horses or riders.

Top 10 overnight at Pau Horse Trials

1. Sarah Bullimore and Coromiro: 30
2. Bubby Upton and Cannavaro: 30.4
3. Tim Price and Jarillo: 30.9
4. Benjamin Massie and Filao De Perle: 31.2
5. Astier Nicolas and Dirty Old Town: 31.2
6. David Doel and Galileo Nieuwmoed: 32.4
7. Jesse Campbell and Cooley Lafitte: 33
8. Tom Jackson and Plot Twist B: 33.2
9. Grace Taylor and Game Changer: 33.5
10. Boyd Martin and Cooley Nutcracker: 33.5

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