Double for Italy on opening day at Verona - Frenchman delestre wins Rolex preliminary
06/11/2009 - Storming speed rounds were the order of the day as Jumping Verona 09 got underway at the Fieracavalli horse festival in Verona, Italy today. The home runners had to settle for the minor placings in the main event - the preliminary competition for Sunday's Rolex FEI World Cup™ Jumping qualifier won by Frenchman Simon Delestre - but they were on fire in the earlier classes in which they were in a class of their own. Delestre had to settle for second place in the opening Speed event won by Giuseppe Rolli who set the target when seventh to go and couldn't be caught despite the best endeavours of the remaining 30 runners. Riding the 10 year old chestnut mare Okinawa du Hussoit his blistering time of 51.23 seconds brought him home almost 1.5 seconds ahead of the Frenchman who, with the 8 year old Napoli du Ry was the very last rider into the ring. Rolli has an impressive record in speed events but said today that he doesn't consider himself a speed specialist - "but my mare is!" he insisted. "I have Okinawa for more than a year now" said the 31 year old who hails from Parma which is about 120 kilometres south of Verona and home to the world-famous Parma ham. "I have two other good horses - the oldest is Kilian who is now 17 years and there is also Jericho who I will be riding in the World Cup qualifier he explained. He described today's win as "a bit of a lucky shot", but few others could find the control or courage to make the hand-brake turns to both the vertical at fence five, which came off a complete 360 degree turn or the difficult line from the FEI vertical to the following water-tray oxer. Okinawa looked cool as a breeze as she waited patiently for her rider to talk to the press before the prize-giving but Rolli said "the only time she is quiet is when she stands still - once you ask her to move she is a very busy lady! She can be a bit anxious but when she is in the ring she knows what she has to do and she just goes!" A lot of riders were competing younger, inexperienced horses in this class and some of the eye-catchers included the nine year old Maloubet du Temple whose spectacular jump is reminiscent of his famous sire, Baloubet. This one was ridden by European gold medallist Pius Schwizer whose Swiss team-mate, Clarissa Crotta, didn't have quite such a smooth run with the bay gelding Palatia Maxima which is a big horse for a small lady. Losing their rhythm turning to the vertical at seven, Palatia was ultra-honest when jumping from a standstill to clear it but the round fell apart after that and Clarissa wisely retired. The Italian national anthem rang out for a second time just a few hours later when Emilio Bicocchi steered Jeckerson Olea home quickest of the five through to the second-round jump-off in the 1.50m Mixed Competition. Denmark's Tina Lund led the way here with Zamiro, but left he door wide open with two fences on the floor while America's Lauren Hough - very much an on-form rider right now - was considerably faster when Quick Study rubbed the coping on top of the final wall for four faults in the quickest time of the class - 40.04 seconds. Albert Zoer and the eight year old Uruguay were also clear to the last but picked up four faults in a slower time and by now Bicocchi had decided to play the safety game. Carefully picking his way around the track with his 10 year old mare he stopped the clock on 45.97 seconds and this put it up to the last man to go - his fellow-countryman Rolli who left one on the floor to slot into third with Jericho de la Vie. Bicocchi was crowned Italian national champion in September to crown a great season that included good results at Estoril in Portugal, victory in the Grand Prix at Arezzo and a good ride in the Nations Cup in Calgary. "Olea was really good today" he said, "so I am very happy".
The final event of the day saw an almighty battle between many of the greats of the sport, and it seemed that British veteran, Michael Whitaker might be about to mark his return to action with a sparkling speed win with the great mare Insultech Portofino who raced home in 60.25 seconds to push Hough, this time riding Prezioso S, into third. However Delestre took every risk on his way around the 12-fence track with the nine year old chestnut mare Melodie Ardente and broke the beam more than a second sooner to pin Whitaker into runner-up spot. “The more you ask of her the quicker she goes” the winner said. |
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