Helsinki Horse Show 2014: Moneta and Connery come out on top in the Sonera International.

The first day of trials at the 5 star Helsinki International Horse Show began really well for the Italian riders. In fact, Luca Maria Moneta rode to a brilliant victory in the timed Sonera International from 1.45m which was a qualifying round for the FEI World Cup and also worth points to the Longines ranking list.
Moneta laid down a marker with a fast time of 57.54 seconds with 13 year-old Westfahlen Connery (Cordobes) in what was a closely fought battle seeing as 20 of the 46 pairs completed the first round without committing errors. In the end, the Italian rider’s advantage was just 0.07 seconds faster than second ranked Maikel van der Vleuten from Holland with VDL Groep Eureka.
It marks Moneta’s first victory in a 5* competition with Connery this season, which has been positive overall thanks above all to the results achieved in the Nations Cup and the final in Barcelona. The final podium spot went to Germany’s Christian Ahlmann with Aragon Z (Ashkari) who wasn’t far off taking second place after his time of 57.64 seconds. Italy’s Lorenzo De Luca was agonisingly close to getting onto the podium, finishing in fourth place with sorrel Zoe II (Kannon); the pair were just 3 hundredths of a second from Ahlmann in third. The rest of the top-ten was as follows:
5th Vladimir Beletsky RUS Rocketman 2
6th Andrius Petrovas LTU Complemento
7th Henrik von Eckermann SWE Crespo PKZ
8th Henk van de Pol NED Willink
9th Shane Breen IRL Golden Hawk
10th Oliver Lazarus RSA Pour le Poussage
Please see here for a full set of the results: http://eventcontent.hippoonline.de/956/sta_erg/02_ergENG.htm?style=longines
There were two other trials taking place yesterday. The first was the International Welcome from 1.40m in two rounds which was won by Lithuania’s Andrius Petrovas on Winston (Indorado). Christian Ahlmann was on the podium again but this time in second with Caruso while third place was taken by Pius Schwizer with Anisette de Lassus.
The rest of the standings were as follows: http://eventcontent.hippoonline.de/956/sta_erg/01_ergENG.htm?style=longines
The day’s events came to an end with a timed trial over 1.40m which saw Ireland’s Shane Breen on Calido Boy (Calido) come out on top. The final podium finishes were taken by two riders from Norway: Dag Ove Kingsrod with Clarkes Ferro and Geir Gulliksen on Grand Balou 4. There were also positive results for Italians Luca Maria Moneta (8th with Quova de Vains) and Francesco Franco (9th with Parsifal). A full breakdown of the results can be found here:
http://eventcontent.hippoonline.de/956/sta_erg/03_ergENG.htm?style=longines
source: helsinki international horse show
Photo Satu Pirinen