After the thrills of yesterday it was gutting to hear that Hiarado (Jools) was not to be presented at the vet check this morning. Jools was simply brilliant yesterday but if Jonelle felt she wasn’t completely sound this morning then she was never going to try and get her through.
Senor Crocodillo (Diego), Grappa Nera, (Grape), Global Quest (George), Happy Boy and Jarillo (Milo) all sailed through and the morning was spent packing up for the long journey across France back to Calais this evening.
The showjumping at Pau is known for being the biggest and most technical on the 5 star circuit and this years course didn’t detract from that ethos at all. Tim, jumping out of order as the only rider with three horses, was perhaps a little unfortunate to find himself first in and the round went south from fence 2 when George somewhat inexplicably guessed at the vertical, left a leg, pitched Tim out of the saddle and then recovered to jump fence 3. 5A was an oxer one stride to a vertical and George jumped in a bit quiet then when Tim said go he didn’t and then found himself too far off the vertical so stopped. After that they regrouped and Tim rode George very forward and they jumped some super fences before tipping the last. 2 rails, a stop and 10.4 time dropped them from 23rd to 25th and Tim looked somewhat shell shocked as he left the arena although he took the time to pat George and reassure him that all was ok.
Jonelle and Grape rode a forward round…not that Grape gives Jonelle allot of choice in the matter and despite rolling fence 3 they jumped a superb round after that to come home with 4 faults and 1.6 time which was good enough move them from 24th to 18th. Diego also wore the titanium hood and he was awesome with a great clear, just adding 1.6 time again to climb from 18th to 10th which is a great finish to his season.
Happy jumped out of order and there is a reason he has won so many three days, he is a superb jumper on the last day. He jumped his usual clear and went from 11th all the way to 4th which is just incredible. He is the ultimate mystery man for sure!
Tim and Milo went in in second place as Bubby Upton and Cannavaro had withdrawn from the hold box this morning and Milo was the utter pro. He jumped the most emphatic clear in time which put all the pressure on Sarah Bullimore on her homebred 9 year old Coromiro. They had a rail and Milo stepped up for his first 5 star win which he seemed destined to do at some stage soon!
It’s Tim’s second win at Pau and he adds these two to Burghley, Maryland and twice at Luhmuhlen. It’s a fabulous way to end the season for both Tim and Jonelle and an enormous credit to the massive team behind them. The long drive home will seem allot easier now and I am sure the celebrations will continue for some time! And congrats to Cosby Green who rode Jos Ufo de Quidam (Ufo) and Highly Suspicious (Puff) into 22nd and 11th. Chedington has been on fire this week and everyone goes home happy.
And that’s a wrap on 2025 with advanced horses heading out for holidays and the babies coming back into work fairly soon. As always there have been high days and low days but from the disaster that was the Team Price assault on Kentucky this spring to the triumphant six out of six 5 star cross country clears yesterday is simply the best way to end it.
