World stars to light up San Patrignano

Two of Italy’s top riders, Gianni Govoni (20th in the FEI ranking list), Natale Chiaudani (47th) and Piergiorgio Bucci (99th), will take part in the CSI5* at san Patrignano.The “Vincenzo Muccioli Challenge” will take place at the anti-drug centre from July 17 to 19th and has confirmed seven of the ten top riders in the world rankings.The world number one, the German Meredith Michaels Beerbaum will lead the way along with compatriot and world number two, Marcus Ehning who is the defending Olympic champion.The Canadian Eric Lamaza is ranked third in the world and another German, Ludger Beerbaum is fourth. Completing the top five will be the Australian Edwina Alexander.Completing the top ten will be American Richard Spooner (7th) and Dutch rider Albert Zoer (9th). The big names just keep coming and a selection to whet the appetite includes Brazilian number 29 Rodrigo Pessoa who won Olympic gold in Athens, Bernardo Alves (44th) fresh from a win in Aachen and Irish rider Denis Lynch (37th) along with a host of other stand-out names.Event head, Andrea Muccioli is expecting three days of top-class sport and said: “The riders have also brought their best horses. Beerbaum has Shutterfly and Lamaza is on Hickstead. It is one of the most important events in the equestrian world.“