Cassio Rivetti (BRA) and Cristal de Menardiere jumped to victory in Thursday’s $37,000 Horseware Ireland Welcome Stake CSI 2* with a time of 39.39 seconds. Second was Samuel Parot (CHI) on Captain Z, his own 2012 Zangersheide gelding (Calvino Z x Voltaire), at 40.45 seconds. Taylor Land (USA) rounded out the top three on the Pinetree Farms Inc. entry Get Go, a 2012 Hanoverian gelding (Grey Top x World Diamond O), with a time of 38.06 seconds and 4 faults
“He’s an amazing horse. He’s 10 years old, [and has] so much quality. He did really well today,” said Rivetti about his mount. “This is one of my student’s horses who is in Europe right now, so that’s why I’m riding him.”
Out of the 37 entries that challenged the Ivan Tagle (ARG) course, only eight qualified for the jump-off. Rivetti explained that the course was extremely technical. “The three-point angle was hard with the bending lines and the oxers. In the jump off, I was the first to go. He is a fast horse and I know him very well, so I tried to do all the tight turns, like a racecar a little bit,” Rivetti explained about his jump off strategy.