20 oktober 2015
Italian Driving Championships in Caravino
Despite the pouring rain on Thursday during the horse inspection, which turned into snow on the surrounding high mountains and creating a striking view from the competition venue, the excellent draining ground and a break in adverse weather conditions allowed a smooth running of the Italian Driving Championship last weekend at the “Lo Sperone” Riding Club in Caravino. This competition was also the Regional Championship of Piemont.Not all Italian drivers attended the event this year because of a few recent changes in horse ownership, but enough to confirm a positive conclusion of a good year for the driving sport in Italy. Especially the Juniors demonstrated to be motivated and eager to reach higher goals.
In the single class, Cristiano Cividini won both dressage and marathon but he was not lucky in the cones, thus leaving the glory of a gold medal to Luca Cassottana, who put down one of the only two double clear rounds. The other was achieved by the 12-year-old young lady, Sara Bombelli, who is cool enough to be a good competition-minded prospect. The third place in the single class went to Enrico Tortella, at his first important competition with his new German bred horse.
An excellent performance by Francesco Aletti Montano with his KWPN horse pair. 48.84 penalties in dressage, a second place in marathon and a third position in cones helped him to win the gold medal, which confirmed the high quality of his horses and training. Gian Paolo Ciani came second. He won both the marathon and the cones but that was not enough to make up for the 12 penalty points advantage Aletti Montano had after dressage. The bronze medal went to Marco Perinotto, who was competing with a pair for the first time.
FEI level 2 Course Designer Gabriele Panier Suffat provided 6 excellent marathon obstacles, out of which two with water, and a nicely designed cones course which was very much appreciated by both the drivers and the judges.
Elvezia Ferrari
