Italy’s Giulia Martinengo Marquet won the opening class on the second day at Jumping Verona 2014, pinning last night’s winner from France, Penelope Leprevost, into runner-up spot while Norway’s Geir Gulliksen finished third. It was Leprevost who set the early target when third to go with the eight-year-old mare Sultane des Ibis. But 35-year-old Martinengo, who always cuts a dash wearing the uniform of the Italian air-force, overtook her French rival by almost two seconds with a super round from the fast-moving Fixdesign Pop Lady d’Elle who crossed the line clear in 52.02 seconds. That time was never going to be easy to beat. As it turned out, two horse-and-rider combinations were quicker, but both left a fence on the floor to finish well down the line. The first of these was fellow-Italian Luca Moneta riding the horse with which he claimed the opening honours at Jumping Verona yesterday, Jesus de la Commune. Together they cleared the line in 50.52 seconds, but Moneta rode the entire round with a loose girth and was out of balance a few times as the saddle kept slipping. “I loosened the girth before I went in and when we jumped the fourth fence the saddle moved and I had to hold on tight!” he explained. He managed to recover quickly but hit the vertical at fence nine after turning the corner to it. French rider Patrice Delaveau was next to go and was also quicker than Martinengo, breaking the beam in 51.25 with the tail-swishing Ornella Mail HDC who always runs like the wind. But the mare clipped the second element of the double at fence eight, so the ladies from Italy and France clinched the top two places while Gulliksen’s time of 55.00 seconds with Grand Balou was good enough for third. Martinengo’s mare, who the rider describes as “hot”, showed her appreciation of the excitement after the prize-giving by eating her rider’s bouquet of flowers when she wasn’t looking. Martinengo said, “I’m very happy to be here and to win. My mare is naturally very fast so I knew she could do it. When she comes into the ring she just wants to go for it!” She admitted however that she was was worried about the riders who followed her today. “I was particularly afraid of Luca, and I was lucky he made a mistake because he was almost two seconds faster!” she said afterwards. Gulliksen was pleased with his third-place finish. “Grand Balou can do anything in competitions between 1.40m and 1.50m” he said. “He was 2nd and 5th in 1.50m classes at Hamburg (Germany) this year and he’s a great horse all round. He won the Six-Bar in Falsterbo (Sweden) and finished third in a class in Helsinki (Finland). At Oslo this year I gave him to my son to ride in the Puissance and they won! He picks up prize-money everywhere he goes” the Norwegian rider explained.
