14 april 2016
Season opener at Caravino: a good start into spring!
In spite of a late publication of the schedule, fifty competitors battled it out at the two-day international and national driving competitions at Caravino, close to Turin, with some representatives from France and quite a few young Italian drivers.On the excellent site of the A.S.D. LO SPERONE a demanding cones course and a challenging marathon were set up by course designer Gabriele Pannier Suffat, on his first FEI competition, along with recently promoted Technical Delegate Roland Morat. They must have done a good job, since everything went smoothly, without complaints, to great satisfaction of both drivers and judges.
The location proved to be absolutely perfect for a high level competition early in the season. A downpour that lasted more than an hour on Friday after the horse inspection had no consequences: the excellent drainage of the sandy soil close to the river was perfect for the following two days of competition.
A high level jury, with four international judges, including Anne Marie Turbé from France and Hanspeter Rüschlin from Switzerland, was judging the dressage on Saturday, closely followed by the cones course on an adjoining arena.
On a beautiful sunny Sunday the marathon set the odds for the final results. In the single horse class Frenchman Mathieu Ory Degomme make up for his 15 points behind the leader in dressage with an incredible drive through the 6 obstacles, 2 of which with water crossings, and ended up first. His compatriot Axel Decourtye earned the third place on the podium with Italian Luca Cassottana finishing second. The results of two young Italian drivers, Ray Lunardon and Mirko Cassotti, were very satisfying.
In the single pony class Emilio Gamba’s Haflinger took the lead over his 3 breed-mates right from the beginning and kept it up until the end.
By the pairs Francesco Aletti Montano put down a very nice score in dressage with 45,73 penalties which counted towards his first place in the overall results.
A good performance for the only competitor in the Children Class, 13-year old Sara Bombelli, which was however very enlightening on her steady progress: safe but forward driving, quality in dressage and determination in the marathon which could mean a participation at the forthcoming European Youth Championship in Germany.
In the national classes, a few new horses, some very young drivers eager to improve, next to old glories showing the right way up, and a Para Equestrian competitor leading the dressage in a mixed class: altogether a good start into the new outdoor season with the purpose of making this event a regular yearly show, able to attract more participants from abroad.
Elvezia Ferrari
