Britain’s Hector Payne really impressed with Dynasty at Pau Horse Trials, finishing third in the final results this afternoon (16 October).
The 30-year-old jumped a clear round in the showjumping, adding just 0.4 of a time-fault for finishing one second over the 80-second time allowed, which propelled him up two places from fifth after cross-country.
“I decided if I was going to get all the phases right, I might as well get them all right on the same weekend as normally I’m the king of screwing up one phase,” said a very happy Hector. “I couldn’t be more happy with my horse – he came out feeling a million dollars today and apart from getting a little bit nervous to the last fence, he was actually brilliant.”
Hector and the 14-year-old, who is owned by Jeremy and Judith Skinner and David and Margie Hall, were in 16th after their 30.9 dressage. An accomplished clear cross-country round yesterday, where they picked up just 1.2 time-faults, saw them rise up the leaderboard to fifth after that phase.
“The showjumping is always very big here and I think even more technical than when I was here in 2020 [when the pair finished 28th],” explained Hector of the track where only three combinations jumped clear inside the time allowed. “This year everything was was related, which made getting the time quite difficult even if you shut off for just one stride. When the leaderboard is as close as it was, being over the time made a big difference.
“I’m very glad I could afford my one one second over because I’d be kicking myself otherwise.”
Hector has a long association with William Fox-Pitt, who started off Dynasty’s career as a young horse until Hector took over the ride in 2016.
“We’ve been working towards this result for forever and I’m glad the owners trusted me to bring him out here,” explained Hector. “We debated taking him to Burghley for a long time, but I really felt he could come here and be competitive – I wasn’t quite expecting to be this competitive, but we’ll take it!”
France’s Karim Florent Laghouag was a whisker away from completing on his 31.4 dressage, but he was another rider to pick up 0.4 of a time-fault in the showjumping to finish in second place. Riding the 15-year-old gelding Triton Fontaine, who is owned by Philippe Lemoine, Guy Bessat and S.A.R.L Ecurie Karim Laghouag, Karim rose from 19th after dressage to third after cross-country, proving that strong jumping performances were key to success at the five-star event.
New Zealand’s Jonelle Price was the winner of Pau five-star with Grappa Nera.
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