Pau 5 Star 2026: Emily King Leads the Season's Last 5* After Dressage

Pau 5 Star 2026: Who Leads After Dressage

Britain's Emily King and Valmy Biats lead the Pau 5 star 2026 on 24.5 penalties after two days of dressage at Les 5 Étoiles de Pau. Defending champion Tim Price of New Zealand is 1.2 behind on Jarillo, and the cross-country starts at noon local time on Saturday, Oct. 24.

Forty-nine combinations completed the dressage on Thursday and Friday at the Domaine de Sers in Pau, in southwest France. King scored 75.48% on Valmy Biats, a 17-year-old Selle Français gelding by Orlando who was second at Luhmühlen earlier this year.

The storylines going into Saturday:

• The defending champion is right there. Price won Pau in 2025 on Jarillo, finishing on 30.9 after sitting fourth after dressage.
• A five-star debut in fourth. McEwen's Quintus is only nine and is making his first start at the level.
• Thursday's leaders slipped to fifth. Ingham and Gypsie du Loir now share the spot with Coudray, the best-placed U.S. rider.
• British depth. Ros Canter and MHS Seventeen are 14th on 31.9, and Tom Jackson and Plot Twist B, runners-up here last year, are joint 17th on 33.0.

These are dressage standings only. Cross-country is Saturday, and the final horse inspection and showjumping are Sunday, Oct. 25.

Why Les 5 Etoiles de Pau Is Special

Only a handful of events in the world run at five-star (CCI5*-L), the top level of eventing, and Pau is the only one in France. Six were held in 2026, and Pau is the last of the year, so it's the final five-star chance of the season for horses and riders.

The five-stars held in 2026:

1. Adelaide, Australia: April 16–19
2. Kentucky, USA: April 22–26
3. Badminton, UK: May 6–10
4. Luhmühlen, Germany: June 17–21
5. Burghley, UK: Sept. 2–6
6. Pau, France: Oct. 22–25

The Maryland 5 Star in the U.S. did not run in 2026. Its organizer paused the five-star for the year, and Fair Hill held a CCI3*-L and the Young Event Horse East Coast Championships on Oct. 15–18 instead. On Oct. 8 the organizer said it will not run the 2027 edition, so Maryland's five-star future is still unclear. We covered that in Maryland 5 Star's future.

The late date shapes the entry list. You get proven five-star horses like Jarillo and Valmy Biats alongside horses stepping up for the first time, like Quintus.

How a Long-Format Five-Star Runs, Day by Day

The "-L" in CCI5*-L means long format: cross-country comes before showjumping, and at five-star level the course is the longest and biggest in the sport. Short-format events, explained in our guide to CCI4*-S and the eventing levels, usually jump first.

Pau's 2026 week:

• Thursday, Oct. 22: first horse inspection, then day one of dressage.
• Friday, Oct. 23: day two of dressage.
• Saturday, Oct. 24: cross-country, from noon local time.
• Sunday, Oct. 25: final horse inspection, then showjumping.

The Sunday inspection matters. Each horse is trotted up in front of the ground jury and vets the morning after cross-country, and only horses judged fit to continue go on to jump.

Showjumping normally runs in reverse order of the standings, so the leader jumps last, knowing exactly how many rails they have in hand.

Pau Eventing Cross-Country: Pierre Michelet's Course

French designer Pierre Michelet's course is 6,270 meters with 31 numbered obstacles and an optimum time of 11 minutes. That works out to 570 meters per minute, a full gallop for 11 minutes with jumps in between.

What to look for:

• Fence 4, the new "Waouh" Ville de Pau. A new question early on, while horses are still settling.
• Water at fences 9 and 11. Two water complexes in the first half of the course test accuracy and how bold a horse feels.
• Fence 21, the "Palois." In the final third of the course, when horses are getting tired.

The start is near the warm-up arena. A numbered obstacle can have several separate jumps (A, B, C), so the total number of jumping efforts is higher than 31.

Why a 4-Point Dressage Spread Matters

In eventing the lowest total wins, and every penalty from all three phases is added together. We explain the full system in What Is Eventing?, so here is just the math that matters for Pau.

• Cross-country time: 0.4 penalties for every second over 11 minutes.
• Showjumping: 4 penalties for each rail down.
• Refusals: 20 penalties for a refusal on cross-country, which usually ends a contender's chances.

Now apply that to the leaderboard:

• King's lead over Price is 1.2 penalties. That's 3 seconds on the cross-country clock.
• The gap from first to the pair sharing fifth is 4.4. That's 11 seconds, or about one rail on Sunday.
• The whole top 10 is within 5.0 penalties.

For contrast, at Burghley in September, Gemma Stevens and Chilli Knight were the only pair to finish on their dressage score and won by 13.4. Finishing on the dressage score is rare at this level, and Price won Pau last year after adding cross-country time. With the top 10 this close, Saturday's clock could decide more than the dressage did.

How to Follow and Visit Pau

Cross-country starts at noon in Pau, which is 11 a.m. in the UK, 6 a.m. Eastern in the U.S. and 4 a.m. in Mexico City. Europe's clocks go back an hour early on Sunday, Oct. 25, so check Sunday's times on the official schedule.

• Live results: the official 5 Étoiles de Pau app and the event site, event-pau.com.
• Video: the event site has a "Live web TV" page. Check it for what is streamed and where you are.
• Tickets: sold through Festik, linked from the official site, with a phone line open weekdays.

If you're going in person:

• Wear waterproof boots. You'll walk a lot of grass.
• Pick two or three fences, like the water at 9 and 11, rather than chasing the whole course.
• When stewards close a crossing or blow a whistle, stop. A galloping horse needs a clear path.
• Keep children close to you near the ropes. Our safety page covers being around horses.

New to the sport? Our disciplines guide explains eventing next to the other Olympic horse sports.

What to Watch Next

• Saturday, Oct. 24: whether King and Valmy Biats stay close to the 11 minutes, and how Price, with 3 seconds to find, rides Jarillo.
• Quintus at fences 4, 9, 11 and 21: the nine-year-old's first five-star cross-country.
• Sunday morning's inspection: every horse has to pass before it jumps.
• Sunday's showjumping: with the top group this close, one rail can swing the podium.

We'll report the result only once it's official. Falls and eliminations, if there are any, are part of the sport, and the official results list them.