William Fox-Pitt & Oratorio (c) Solène Bailly Photos.

If there was any doubt that 2021 has been a year for the Brits in equestrian sports, then the riders here in Pau have just swept it away! As if it weren’t enough to have bagged the gold medal in the team event and silver in the individual event in Tokyo, then the gold again in the team event and the podium in the individual event at the European championships, the British contingent are back in Pau to fight for the title of the final major competition on the eventing circuit. With a total of 23 riders on the start list, it was a pretty safe bet that some of them would be on the podium. And they did it with flair – five British riders have the first five places on the provisional leaderboard. In the driving dressage test, Marion Vignaud (FRA) was pipped at the post by a few hundredths of a point by Canadian driver Kelly Houttappels-Bruder.

Daniel Koroloff – E-mail: daniel@blizko-communication.com