The pair lined out in the opening class at CSIO Rome 2025 in which Caracole jumped with all her trademark enthusiasm but a lot less of the tension she has sometimes shown. They easily qualified for the jump-off, but the US rider decided not to run her again. He has his eyes on bigger prizes later in the week.

Starting with the Nations Cup Intesa Sampaolo, in which the pair has done a great job in the prestigious Us victory taht was scored after 16 years from the last win in Rome.

"She always had incredibly high peaks but there have been a couple of Grand Prixs where there were also low troughs. So we’ve been working really hard to even that out, as close as we can to the peaks so we can maintain that. When we showed two weeks ago in France she felt very similar to that, and today she felt like that again so the work is paying off”.

Relaxed and happy

He wants to keep her as relaxed and happy as possible in the lead-up to Sunday’s defence of the Rolex title. And while he’s looking forward to it, the man who took team silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is clearly feeling the pressure..

“Without this show last year I wouldn’t have made the Olympics, so I obviously have very fond and happy memories of here and I’m so happy to be back! But it is quite different because last year I had no expectations. They just threw me in and that was it!

“Now it’s a little bit different, it’s still fun and you’ve got to use the energy you have. She’s still going great, she’s super-happy to be here, from when we jumped our first fence in the warm-up she felt awesome, and in the ring she was great”, he said.

As he chases down back-to-back Rolex Grand Prix titles at Piazza di Siena it’s a case of so far, so good…