Ireland’s Padriag McCarthy up to second ahead of final day at prestigious five-star Pau in France

An outstanding Cross Country performance from Tipperary Eventing rider Padraig McCarthy and the 12-year-old mare Fallulah has moved them up to second place on the leaderboard heading into tomorrow’s (Sunday)  final Show Jumping phase at the prestigious five-star Etoiles de Pau in France.

Pau in one of just six five-star Eventing competitions across the globe along with Badminton (GBR), Burghley (GBR), Lexington (USA), Luhmülen (GER) and Adelaide (AUS) and attracts many of the worlds top horses and riders.

Padraig McCarthy and Fallulah (Photo: Irish Eventing Times)

A brilliant Dressage test on Friday left Padraig McCarthy and Fallulah in fourth place on a score of 24.9. The Irish rider completed today’s Cross Country course of 45 jumping efforts spread over 6,800 metres without any jumping penalties and crossed the line exactly on the optimum time of 11 minutes and 50 seconds to remain on his Dressage score  – moving up two places to second overall.

New Zealand’s Tim Price still holds the lead with Falco but the World No.3 is less than one fence ahead of McCarthy on a score of 22.1 heading into Sunday afternoon’s final Show Jumping phase.

It was also an excellent day for the two other Irish riders competing this weekend at Pau. Cathal Daniels and Rioghan Rua (ISH) jumped clear with just 0.4 time pens and are in 13th place on 33.3. Joseph Murphy and Calmaro also jumped clear with just 2 time pens to leave them on a score of 33.5 and in 15th place..

Sunday’s final Show Jumping phase at Etoiles de Pau starts at 1.45pm Irish time.