Under not always good weather, the Grand National FFE – AC Print de Pompadour started this Friday for the completists. After a dressage won by Gwendolen Fer and Romantic Love, the show jumping course (which was brought forward from Sunday to Friday for fear of extreme weather conditions) has completely reshuffled the cards. And it is Thomas Carlile and Zanzibar Villa Rose Z, in full preparation for the CCI5*-L of Badminton, who benefit from it.
Pompadour welcomes in this beginning of April the second stage of the Grand National FFE – AC Print of eventing. The abnormally cold weather conditions this week forced the organizers to modify the program slightly. Instead of being held over three days, the Pro Elite was condensed into two days, with dressage in the morning and horse racing in the afternoon this Friday. The cross will take place tomorrow, Saturday, from 11 am.
This morning, a few centimeters of snow had covered the facilities of the Haras National de Pompadour in white. To guarantee practicable careers, the SCH Pompadour teams were hard at work well before sunrise. Their efforts were not in vain since all the events scheduled for that day were able to take place normally, despite weather conditions reminiscent of the kingdom of Narnia: cascading snowfall, then a bright sun, and between the two, no one really don’t know what’s going on.
Zanzibar in progress
As the snow continued to fall intermittently in Pompadour at the end of the day, it was Thomas Carlile (Ecurie Carlile – Ecurie Astier) who finished Friday at the top of the Pro Elite with Zanzibar Villa Rose Z (Zandor Z). Sixth after dressage (28.6), the ten-year-old gelding, who should participate in his first CCI5*-L in a month at Badminton, climbed to the top of the results table thanks to an equestrian (very faulty for the others competitors) clear on the bars, but penalized by 1.6 time points. “ Zanzibar is still quite particular in its technique », underlined Tom after his equestrian. ” But it must be said that this winter, I really appreciated the work with Patrice (Delaveau, in charge of show jumping for the French eventing team, editor’s note). I left for a fortnight at the Royan CSI, which is a bit like my tour, just before the Grand National to put the horses on a large track and repeat the courses at 1.30 meters. Patrice was present, I thank him very much because he was not there for me and he took the time to attend all my relaxations and to analyze all my courses. We exchanged a lot. » Today the rider seemed to reap the fruits of his exchanges with the vice-world champion in show jumping. ” It must be said that Zanzibar has made good progress lately. He jumps in his own way, but now I really have the impression that he has understood what is expected of him, he is trying to be faultless. Also on dressage, Tom believes that his partner has gained experience and has a real card to play. ” I am very happy with his performance on the rectangle. Now he knows how to do the movements and he is maturing in his behavior. »
Upheavals following the horse race
In second position this evening, we find Gwendolen Fer and Romantic Love (The Arc de Triomphe), for the Equithème stable – La Gée horse equipment. However in the lead after the dressage, the couple was trapped on the entry of the double, placed at the end of the course and after having concluded the dressage in pole position, the couple could not avoid a fault on the horse and penalties for overtime, adding 5.6 points to their initial score of 26 points. One would have thought that the pair were going to lose big as the gaps after the dressage were tight (and where ten couples posted a score of less than 30 penalty points), but the difficulty of the course, associated with changing weather conditions, had due to the efforts of many competitors. They are only five to have kept the penalties that the dressage judges had attributed to them: Arnaud Boiteau and Quoriano*IFCE (Coriano), for the team Le Cadre Noir de Saumur IFCE – Concept PGO, Heloise Le Guern and Canakine du Sudre Z (Felton du Mont), for the Vitagermine stable – Laboratoire Audevard, Astier Nicolas and Alertamalib’Or (Yarlands Summer Song), for the stable Ecurie Carlile – Ecurie Astier, Jean-Lou Bigot and Utrillo du Halage (Kara du Halage), for the team Le Cadre Noir de Saumur IFCE – Concept PGO, as well as Luke Castle and Troubadour Camphoux (Idem of B’Neville), for the Forestier Sellier – Royal Horse stable. All these couples are placed this evening respectively in the third, four, six, seven and ninth rows.
Note the presence in fifth place of the young Julie Simonet (Forestier Sellier – Royal Horse stable), whose dressage judges congratulated the quality of the riding during one of the breaks, and who could not avoid a fault on the triple dismount with his inseparable Sursumcord’Or (Yarlands Summer Song). If the disappointment could be read on her face when she left her horse, the rider need not be ashamed and showed two promising first performances for her first season at this level of competition.
Tomorrow, the cross will give its final verdict, hoping that the weather will not come to spoil the party. For his part, the leader of the event will race according to what Zanzibar gives him. ” The idea is really to prepare Badminton and to bring it there in good conditions “, he says. ” I was very, very happy with his career in Saumur (a month ago in the Grand National, editor’s note). He was fast, he did a great lap where I kind of did what I wanted. If he is in this state of mind tomorrow, I can highlight his ability to gallop », Recalling all the same that his priority remains the British deadline, which would be the first 5*-L in which Thomas Carlile would participate.
To view the results in detail, Click here.
To Pompadour, Adele Vaupre
