IRISH riders and horses were among the successes in Italy over the weekend, as Verona played host to a five-star World Cup Show, the highlight of which was the 1.60m Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Grand Prix on Sunday.
Forty starters lined out for the class, including Ireland’s Jessica Burke, Bertram Allen and Susan Fitzpatrick. Only seven combinations negotiated their way over the first-round course without penalty and only four managed to do so again in the jump-off.
Burke and the nine-year-old gelding Good Star du Bary picked up an unfortunate four faults in round one, which precluded them from the jump-off, but they finished as best of the Irish in ninth place and earned eight World Cup points. Allen on Qonquest de Rigo and Fitzpatrick on Lovely Stassi PS also faulted in the first round and finished further down the placings.
Germany’s Daniel Deusser rode Otello de Guldenboom to take the top spot in a jump-off time of 36.13, followed by Alain Jufer (SUI) on Dante MM in second (36.92) and Christian Kukuk (GER) on Just Be Gentle completing the podium in third (37.31).
This is the second time for Deusser to win this class, having won seven years ago with Calisto Blue. This time his mount was the 11-year-old stallion Otello de Guldenboom, of whom Deusser said: “Otello has plenty of confidence, he is very cool, he goes to the fence very easily, I just have to try and give him the right distance and today he did it all perfectly!”
In the ribbons
Three days of five-star show jumping were held at Verona, with an Irish Sport Horse taking the opening win. Britain’s Matthew Sampson rode the 12-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Latte Macchiato (Pacino x Torboy Lady by Boherdeal Clover), bred by Michael Kelly, to top the 1.45m two-phase special class with a double clear round in a second-phase time of 29.56, nearly three seconds ahead of their nearest rival.
“He’s been fantastic!” Sampson said of the Irish horse, who was previously jointly-owned by Irish riders Shane Breen and Bertram Allen before going to current owners, the Gachoud family.
“He won in St Tropez (France) and in Oliva (Spain), he won two classes over the last few weeks - this is his first indoor show of the year and also his first-ever five-star, so everybody is delighted!”
Jessica Burke had been quick off the mark with a top-five finish in the 1.50m speed class on Friday. The Galway rider and the 15-year-old Irish Sport Horse gelding Express Trend, owned and bred by Liam Nicholas in Co Clare, jumped a clear round in 58.26 to place fourth in the 53-strong class, in which there were 14 clears.
It was a home win for Italy’s Emanuele Gaudiano on Vasco 118, who stopped the clock in 56.37, over a second ahead of runner-up Kevin Staut (FRA) on Kannonqulan (57.51), followed by Antoine Ermann (FRA) on Odin van’t Hanegoor a fraction behind in third (57.77).
Burke and Good Star du Bary finished just outside the top 10 in Friday’s 1.55m speed class, when their time of 71.47 put them in 11th place. The class was won by an on-form Deusser on Otello de Guldenboom in a time of 63.07.