Italian riders outshone on home soil by foreign stars.

The recent CSIO Rome came to a close with yesterday’s GP in which the riders from abroad took centre stage. The course for the GP showdown, designed by the great Uliano Vezzani, was smaller than previous editions meaning even less room for errors and caused problems for even the very best riders in the world.
In the first round, the clears came from Sweden’s Peder Fredricson with H&M All In, fellow Swede Malin Bayard Johnsonn with Corporal Vdl and Laura Kraut of the USA with Zeremonie. Holland’s Jur Vrieling displayed his immense talent once more with VDL Zirocco Blue for a faultless run along with Simone Delestre who showed why he is the world number one with Hermes Ryan. The other two clears meanwhile came from Germany’s Marco Kutscher with Van Gogh and US rider Mc Lain Ward with HH Azur.
Italy endured an off-day: Davide Sbardella collected far too many penalties in round one (21) and so did Paolo Paini (24). Giulia Martinengo Marquet found the going tough as well registering 13 penalties while Matilde Giorgia Bianchi knocked down 3 barriers with Lejano. Surprisingly, Luca Maria Moneta also disappointed and had to retire whereas Gianni Govoni amassed 12 penalties. Filippo Moyersoen’s mount Loro Piana Canada on the other hand refused to jump twice. Filippo Maria Bologni and Lorenzo de Luca both fell with Fixdesign Chopin and Ensor de Litrange respectively. Nevertheless, Emilio Bicocchi bucked the negative trend for Italy and with only 4 penalties booked his place in the second round with Ares.
There was plenty of drama in the second round with Marco Kutscher falling and allowing McLain Ward to take full advantage and strut his stuff for the win. Peder Fredricsson trailed behind for second spot and Laura Kraut was third. Marcus Ehning finished fourth while in fifth place we find Kent Farrington.