Release date: 01/07/2011 |    

Rodrigo Pessoa and Double H Farm's 'Palouchin De Ligny', winners of the opening Global Champions Tour class in Estoril, Portugal

GCT in Estoril - Opening 1.45m International Competition

(Table A against the clock)

It was a whole new ball game for the top international riders competing on the open grass arena in Estoril.  After the small arenas that they had met with in Cannes and Monaco, there came some adjustment for both horses and riders. Some riders opted to use the event as a familiarisation tactic while others decided to take a cut.

The turfed arena was well manicured providing sufficient cushioning and plenty of hold in the hoof, minimizing the slide effect often associated with grass surfaces.  Whether it is too long remains to be seen as the weekend of jumping progresses.

After his ride, German rider Marco Kutscher was philosophical about the turfed surface.  “The surface feels good to jump on and not slippery at all.  It may be a bit too long and we will see when the horses have to land and turn quickly in a bigger track jump-off.” Marco finished in fifth place with Satisfaction FRH a Stakkato stallion owned by Madeleine Winter-Schulze.

The fences were set out by German course designer Frank Rothenberger, utilising the entire arena space that required the horses to take bigger strides and move up in pace.  The open ride to the final fence, a wall, caught quite a few out, resulting in bricks tumbling.

It was the early starters in the class who set the pace that couldn’t be caught by the tail end of the 41 starters.  German Philipp Weishaupt, first to go, set a tidy time of 57.59 with the Landor S bred stallion Leoville 2 (pictured above) to rest eventually in third place. Ben Maher (Great Britain) and Rowena Gredley’s mare Voske (pictured below) were second out on course.  Their handy time of 53.78 kept them in 2^nd place by the conclusion of the class.

Brazilian Rodrigo Pessoa, out on course six horses after Maher with Double H Farm’s Palouchin De Ligny, flowed around the track effortlessly to be home clear in a fast time of 51.42.   This resulted in the eventual win for this home bred horse that has the exceptional genetic blood of Baloubet du Rouet x Chin Chin.

Rodrigo Pessoa - Brazil

Commenting on his horse Palouchin De Ligny and the win

He is very competitive horse when everything goes right.  He is very fast and careful so I can always keep pushing on course.

The ride today was great and I had a good feeling with him after the first two fences that I could go fast.

He doesn’t like to go slow, so these type of classes suit him very well and he can be very competitive.

It is nice to have a ribbon to start the weekend.

Photo credit: Stefano Grasso/GCT