Rodrigo Pessoa won the Small Grand Prix at Rome - Christine McCrea is second
May 30, 2025
Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa won the Small Grand Prix at the Piazza di Siena this afternoon with a superb round from the nine year old Cazino.
Going fourth in the six-horse jump-off he was chasing the target-time set by America’s Christine McCrea who broke the beam in 35.10 seconds in a super-fast race against the clock.
Janne-Friedrike Meyer form Germany had a pole down with Chika’s Way and Switzerland’s star in yesterday’s Meydan FEI Nations Cup, Clarissa Crotta who completed one of just four double-clear rounds, was clear again today but did not challenge the lead when crossing the line in 39.11 with Made in Margot.
Next into the ring, Pessoa wasted no time over the early part of the track and was well up on time turning sharp right the penultimate oxer, and Cazino really opened up on the long run to the final vertical to take the lead in 34.95 seconds.
Belgium’s Peter Postelmans and Top Gun were clear in 36.63 seconds and, last to go, America’s Richard Spooner - known as “The Master of Faster” on his home turf - was more than a second faster than Pessoa but paid the price for an angled turn to the second-last which fell for four faults.
“Cazino will learn a lot from this today, he is a lovely horse” Pessoa said afterwards. “It’s not often you find one that can run fast and also be careful - he was really brave and I could gallop him through the course. I’m very happy with him” he added.
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