The European eventing season comes to a close this weekend at Pau Horse Trials (25-29 October) – and you can watch all the action on H&C.
Stunning location
Les Étoiles de Pau has been running since 1991 and in 2007 was given four-star status, making it the only three-day event in France.
Known simply as ‘Pau’ (pronounced ‘po’ as in ‘go’) by eventers, this popular end-of-season run is held on a racehorse training facility in the south of France.
Despite its stunning location on the edge of the Pyrenees, the terrain is fairly flat. However, Olympic course-designer Pierre Michelet has cleverly designed a cross-country track that is full of challenges for horse and rider.
FEI Classics
While Pau marks the end of the 2017 event season, it is the first leg of the FEI Classics 2017/18 series and attracts some of the sport’s biggest names.
At this year’s CCI4* event five of the world’s top ten eventers are competing, including last year’s winner Maxime Livio, world number one Michael Jung – who won this year’s Classics – Andrew Nicholson and Mark Todd.
Watch your favourites
A total of 23 British riders are hopping across the channel for their last run of the season and some last minute sun before winter. Names to look out for include European team gold medallist Ros Canter, Pippa Funnell, Ben Hobday, Sarah Bullimore and Izzy Taylor, who is on great form following her gold and silver at the FEI World Breeding Eventing Championships for Young Horses.
Ireland has six riders competing, including Aoife Clark and Jonty Evans, who is riding Cooley Rorkes Drift – the horse he bought for £500,000 through a crowd-funding campaign.
You can watch all your favourite event riders for the last time this year, as we have an hour-long highlight show of Pau on H&C.
Don’t miss FEI Classics 2017/2018 Pau when it premieres on 9 November at 9pm on Sky 253, and online via H&C Play or Amazon Video.