MYAKKA CITY, Fla.--Six-time Olympian Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil on Chili won $65,000 FEI 1.45m Grand Prix over Dermot Lennon of Ireland on King Kannan GP, Amanda Derbyshire of Great Britain on Destine To Be and four time Olympian Beezie Madden,, who no longer competes internationally, on Hummer..
Rodrigo Pessoa on Chill (Photo by EQ Media)Manuel Esparza of Mexico set the course for 30 competitors from nine nations with 11 returning for the jump-off.
Esparza’s CSI2* grand prix course had 15 jumping efforts and a time allowed of 75 seconds and included three combinations - an oxer-vertical two stride, a vertical-oxer one stride and a vertical-vertical one stride.
“We play a little bit sometimes in the difficult lines, we go a little lower,” Esparza said. “We have a chance to go a couple centimeters up when we need it. This group is a really nice group of horses and riders. I think this is a fair track for them.”
Fifth in the jump-off order, Derbyshire was clean in 37.38, taking the lead from four-time Olympian Beezie Madden on Hummer Z by eight-tenths of a second.
PESSOA on Chili was the ninth to return, and while he added a stride in two lines on the course, the mare was faster across the ground, giving Pessoa the lead by 0.48 seconds.
“Chili’s a very fast mare, really great for classes like this,” Pessoa said. “She’s very competitive, always looking for the next jump, which is a great thing in a speed horse. You can really cut her loose. I had a plan to be tight everywhere and to go as fast as I possibly could. She was perfect; I’m very happy with her performance today.”
“It’s always fantastic to come here, the facility is really unbelievable,” Pessoa said. “Everybody is so nice. It is so peaceful; we really love coming here.”
Tenth in the jump-off order, Lennon stopped the timers at 37.25, which dropped Derbyshire to third.
“Nice course today, the horses had to be careful and rideable,” Lennon said. “I thought it was up to height but fair. Jump off was good with a nice mixture of turns and runs. Great class for spectators, as well as riders! I have to say, the facility is very nice, it’s in a beautiful setting.”
Following the grand prix, the $20,000, 1.35m National Prix had 121 entries.
The national prix was run with an immediate jump off, with entries remaining in the ring for the short course if they had a clear first round.
Derbyshire on Renkum Oriana was the only clean in the jump-off to win in 41.283 seconds.
“Anna, as she’s called in the stall, is a fairly new horse to us,” Derbyshire said. “I’m very excited about her future. She seems to have everything for a big grand prix horse, so we’re taking our time.
“The course was beautiful, it’s a really nice introduction for the younger 8 year olds. Happy to be here and will be coming back!”
Kelly Soleau-Millar on Fire Fly was second, the fastest four-faulter in 41.151 seconds.
“I thought the course was excellent today, it was challenging enough without discouraging the horse,” said Soleau-Millar. “But I think one double clear shows it was a great class. I was a bit disappointed with my four faults in the jump-off, but it was challenging, it was nice for developing young horses, and it asked a lot of the correct questions.”
Diego Perez Bilbao of Spain on Dialuna was third with four faults in 42.336 seconds.
