The second leg of the World Cup in Gotenborg, Sweden has ended, a very technical course with no short cuts.
There were 39 entries of which only 12 went clear. There were 16 jumping elements which
involved several very difficult options.
There were numerous problems with fence three, which seemed fair, but the strides must
have been off as many combinations dropped it. The turn that lead to fence 6a was curious
and had to be set up correctly in order to make the long two stride to fence 6b. There
were also many dropped rails at that point. Fence 8 was on a straight away and at an
angle. Several horse and rider combintions dropped that rail. It may have been set at an
angle, but there seemes to be ample galloping space to it which may have caused
overconficence.
Fence 10 was a huge oxer. It came off of a tight turn, which meant many riders were not
able to set up to it correctly. There were many problems there. After the oxer there was a
triple combination which was easy to take in a moving three strides. Many of the horses
were pulled up there or refused. Only the most athletic horses fit it in a 4 stride and
went clear through the challenging triple.
The crowd in the Scandinadium went wild when the World Champion, Rodrigo Pessoa was to
enter the arena. Rodrigo laid down a clear go in the first round of 73.88. He was to end
up with a final ranking of fourth with a score of 37.52 in the jump off. This round was
incredble. His amazing mount, loaned to him by his father, Gandini Baloubet de Rouet
landed a leg in between the two rails of the biggest oxer on the course. This was lucky as
no faults were incurred. Rodrigo said of his round, " My horse anticipated the oxer.
It is hard to steer a horse correctly in a hackamore. I believe he saved me on that
one".
Of the 12 horses that went clear, American, Nicole Shahinian-Simpson went clear with a
quarter of a time fault. Nona Garson went clear also. She was aboard Loro Piana
Rhythymical, and had the fastest time of any in the first round of 71.67. She finished the
jump off round in a blistering time of 36.04 which put her second only to John Whitaker
who won hands down with a time of 35.84. Whitaker said of Virtual Village Heyman, "
He was very good last week which gave me confidence". He adds, " Yesterday was a
dismistakes and placed poorly. Heymen is 10 and Grannusch is 20, half the age of
Grannusch".
Ireland’s Peter Charles placed third on Traxdata Nustria Van Meijershoeve. His
first round was laid down in a time of 75.01. He returned for a time of 36.25, which was
good enough for him. He commented, "He is a little green for this kind of
competition. I was pleased with his performance".Rodrigo Pessao was fourth with a
final time of 37.52. Pessoa said of his course, "It went exactly as planned. I wanted
to stay in the lead for the World Cup. If it was the final Grand Prix, I would have tried
a little bit harder. I wanted to play it safe. I was happy enough with the opportunity to
be in the jump off."
Media Release Contact: Jennifer Ward
Media Relations Coordinator
For Immediate Release Tel: (613) 248-3433 ext. 133
e-mail: Jennifer Ward
