Italy’s Gaudiano heads off Brits in World Cup

Italy’s EmanueleGaudiano won the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping leg at Olympia today (20 December), finishing nearly one second quicker than Britain’s Ben Maher.

Competitive

Course builder Bernardo Costa Cabral had set a testing track but in the end, 17 combinations made it through to the jump-off.

“I would have been happy with 13 or 14 clears but in the end we had 17. It wasn’t one of the tallest tracks but it was technical,” said Bernardo.

But while clears in the first round were fairly easy to come by, it was clear from the off that the second round wasn’t going to be as straightforward.

First to go in the jump off was Olivier Robert for France, who finished on 39.28sec but picked up eight faults in the process. Next was Guy Williams, whose early draw meant he really had to go for it. He produced the sort of gutsy, attacking round he’s famous for to finish clear on 37.74sec on Titus.

Both Max Kuhner and Cian O’Connor went clear but neither could rival Guy’s time, while Swedish hopes Malin Baryard-Johnsson and Peder Fredericson both faulted.

British challenge

In next was Ben Maher and Diva II, the winners of last year’s Olympia Grand Prix. Ben is the master when it comes to bringing out the best in tricky horses, and he rode the long-striding chestnut mare round to finish clear in 37.15sec to set a new standard.

Even world number one Scott Brash couldn’t better his Olympic team mate’s time, going into second place. Jur Vrieling and Marcus Ehning both faulted, and it was looking like a home win for the Brits until Italy’s Emanuele Gaudiano knocked almost one second of Ben’s time.

His round put the pressure on the others with Steve Guerdat, Laura Renwick and Bertram Allen also picking up faults.

Only Michael Whitaker could claim the win for the Brits and he tried his best – but a couple of small losses of momentum meant he crossed the line in 37.28 sec to go third.

Good week

It was the second win of the week for Emanuele Gaudiano, who also claimed the first international class of the week on his other ride Caspar.

But it was on the 10-year-old gelding Admara that he claimed the FEI World Cup, the feature class of the show.

“For sure we had to go very fast to win – I tried and he was good. He’s a fantastic horse, very clever and careful,” said Emanuele, who has owned the horse since he was a two-year-old.

Best of the Brits

Second placed Ben Maher – who has enjoyed a lot of success at Olympia over the years, was pragmatic about the results. “I couldn’t have done any more on my mare today. When Emanuele’s clear it’s very hard to beat him, and he spoiled the British party!

“I felt like I was at Cheltenham coming to the last fence. She always comes forward to me when it matters and that’s a sign of a great horse,” he added.

Michael Whitaker and the 13-year-old Viking were just 0.13sec in arrears in third.

“It wasn’t my best jump off ever so it shows how good he was to be third. We had a terrible stride at the third, and a terrible stride at the fourth,” joked the rider.

Michael now plans to jump Viking in tomorrow’s Olympia Grand Prix, which will bring the curtain down on another thrilling show.

Watch the FEI World Cup series on Horse & Country TV at thefollowing times.

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