Brit’s Nick Skelton with Arko III and Michael Whitaker with Mozart des Hayettes finish 1-2 in the Grand Prix of Rome
Nick Skelton and ARKO III continued to collect prizes in Rome, as they were double clear to take the Grand Prix with its 44,800 Euro first place prize. On Thursday Skelton and ARKO III were presented with the FEI’s “Best Horse and Rider Combination for 2005″. It was the second year in a row that this pair won the FEI title. John Hales, who owns ARKO III and is also President of the British Show Jumping Association was also named “Owner of the Year”.
Germany’s Christian Ahlmann and Coster were the winners of the Grand Prix of Rome event in 2005 but were not in the field this year. Prize money offered was 140,000,00 € which makes it one of the richest Grand Prix’s in Europe.
All four American’s were entered in the Grand Prix of Rome, a two Round Art 273.3.3 competition. Course designer Giovanni Bussu set up a 14 obstacle course for Round 1 of the competition. Fences 3 and 9 caused most of the problems on this technically difficult course.
Once again Giovanni was on-target with his predictions. His forcast for 10 clears in Round 1 was right on target. Fifty-five Horse and Riders came to the starting gate in Round 1 and produced a total of 8 clears. Nine if you count Germany’s Ulrich Kirchhoff aboard Carino who left all of the rails in place to go clear but incurred a time fault.
Candice King and Tarco provided the American’s with their best performance (18th) having a single rail for 4 faults in a time of 78.71. Laura Kraut with Anthem (20th) and Molly Ashe on Neuville (21st) also had 4 faults while Christine McCrea on Promised land had two rails and finished in 28th place with 8 faults.
The top 14 riders returned for Round 2 and Gemany’s Ulrich Kirchhoff and Carino again left all of the rails standing and this time did it within the time allowed to grab the early lead with a combined score of a single fault. Nick Skelton (GBR) was the first to go double clear on Arko III and set a time to beat of 47.13. “Arko III is a special jumper”, says Skelton. “He is always focused on the course and the obstacles”.
Next up was fellow countryman Michael Whitaker who took aim at Skelton, and while he managed the second double clear ride his time of 47.62 was almost a half second slower but good enough for second place.
Germany’s Frank Sloothaak had the time beat at 44.05, but a rail cost him his chance for victory. Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson also had a good time at 46.61 but again with a rail and when Heinrich-Hermann Engemann (GER), the last rider in the ring, also had a rail, the British could claim victory and a one-two finish.
At the Press conference following the event, Skelton said, “It’s taken me a long time to win this one. I’ve been coming to Rome for 25 years but this is one of the big Grand Prix’s that I had never managed to win.” “I’m glad Michael was a little slower”, he added jokingly.
This was also a big day for Whitaker in that he had an opportunity to show that Mozart des Hayettes could compete at this level. While Michael should definitely be on the British squad at WEG, he now could be taking Mozart des Hayettes.
Results
1. 119 SKELTON Nick GBR ARKO III 0 0 0 47.13 44,800
2. 85 WHITAKER Michael GBR MOZART DES HAYETTES 0 0 0 47.62 25,200
3. 166 KIRCHHOFF Ulrich GER CARINO 1 0 1 55.64 15,400
4. 33 SLOOTHAAK Franke GER LEGURIO 0 4 4 44.05 11,200
5. 138 ENGEMANN Heinrich-Hermann GER ABOYEUR W 0 4 4 46.21 8,400
6. 86 BENGTSSON Rolf-Goran SWE GRANDINA 22 0 4 4 46.61 5,600
7. 162 VAN DER SCHANS Wout Jan NED NOUVELLE 4 0 4 46.75 5,600
8. 115 LAFOUGE Stephan FRA GABELOU DES ORES 4 0 4 46.90 5,600
9. 24 NICOLAS Jean Marc FRA JPC MODESTO EQUIFOAM 0 4 4 49.61 4,000
10. 106 JARRY Pierre FRA HAXELLE DAMPIERRE 0 8 8 53.89 4,000
11. 65 CRUMLEY Ryan IRL BALTIMORE 0 8 8 58.01 2,550
12. 102 MELLIGER Willi SUI LEA C 4 4 8 59.89 2,550
13. 46 BICOCCHI Emilio ITA JECKERSON LANDRU´ 4 8 12 61.81 2,550
14. 143 SMITH Robert GBR MARIUS CLAUDIUS 4 12 16 53.38 2,550
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