The Friday night competition was very tight. Out of 46 riders 20 managed a clear round and the top four finished within 13 hundreths of a second. The fastest of them was Luca Maria Moneta from Italy with his horse Connery. This was his first five-star international win with Connery this season. "I am very pleased with my horse Connery. He has gotten older and knows his job better. Earlier he was too much in a hurry: if I let him go, he was too excited and not really careful with what he was doing. Now, he finally knows his job and fights for me against the fences. It's nice because I can let him do the job and it is very easy for me, Moneta says." He was able to beat Maikel van der Vleuten and Vdl Groep Eureka by a very slight margin, 0,07 seconds. "To be honest, my plan was to go in and do a clear round. I knew that the top three was very close, within 10 hundreths of a second. But then it felt like I was doing well and I went fast. I did not expect to win, because we did a fast round but not crazy fast – it could have been faster, he continues." Moneta has had a good season and he was an important link in the Italian team at the Barcelona Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Final. "The Italian team got into the top league in the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup for the next year. It will be tough for us, but it is also a good chance to train ourselves to be ready for the European Championships. That will be the last chance to qualify for the next Olympics. This is a very important goal not only for me but also for my national team". Moneta likes it in the new Helsinki venue, well almost. "Helsinki is a high level show, and this year the practice area is bigger and better than before. I think the crowd is not so friendly and hot, yet, but it is also a very cold here, Moneta says smilingly and hurries back to the warm-up arena to get ready for his next class." Finland's Anna-Julia Kontio and Fardon were the first to start in 145 class. They were placed fourteenth with a time of 62.40. "I was satisfied with our performance. Everything went according to my plans: since my horse Fardon is not expecially fast, I had planned that we take short turns and ride safely, taking no unnecessary risks, aiming to do a clear round. Fardon jumped well and I was happy with my riding as well," Kontio says. "It is always nice to come to Helsinki and it was good to see an audience this big already today." Lotta-Riikka Rintamäki also rode a clear round with her horse Cosma Shiva and finished 19th (68.82). The top 12 finished within 4 seconds from the winner and the top 5 finished within one second. Sonera International 145 cm, against the clock. Starts 46, placings 12 .1) Luca Maria Moneta/Connery ITA 0/57,54 2) Maikel van der Vleuten/Vdl Groep Eureka NED 0/57,61 3) Christian Ahlmann/Aragon Z GER 0/57,64 4) Lorenzo de Luca/Zoe II ITA 0/57,67 5) Vladimir Beletsky/Rocketman 2 RUS 0/58,28 6) Andrius Petrovas/Complemento LTU 0/59,57 7) Henrik von Eckermann/Crespo PKZ SWE 0/59,66 8) Henk van de Pol/Willink NED 0/59,86 9) Shane Breen/Golden Hawk IRL 0/59,96 10) Oliver Lazarus/Pour Le Poussage RSA 0/60,43 11) Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum/Checkmate GER 0/61,21 12) Pius Schwizer/Sixtine de Vains SUI 0/61,36 …14) Anna-Julia Kontio/Fardon FIN 0/62,40 …19) Lotta-Riikka Rintamäki/Cosma Shiva FIN 0/68,82 …28) Mikko Mäentausta/Quenaro FIN 4/65,08 …35) Satu Liukkonen/Celestine FIN 4/66,05 …39) Jessica Timgren/Vaillant FIN 8/69,70
