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- Budweiser American Invitational winner Rodrigo Pessoa on Baloubet du Rouet
- © 2006 Nancy Jaffer
April 2, 2006, Tampa, Fla. -- Wow--What a jump-off!
More than 11,000 fans certainly got their money's worth last night from a classic confrontation, as Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa and his longtime partner, Baloubet du Rouet, dominated a challenging course and top-drawer international competition to win the $200,000 Budweiser American Invitational.
This was Rodrigo's first visit to Raymond James Stadium for the USA's richest and most prestigious grand prix, but he acted as if he owned the place.
With all the authority of a former world champion and three-time World Cup winner, Rodrigo galloped along a carefully calculated route in the four-horse tie-breaker to best Chris Kappler on VDL Oranta, the only American to go clean in the first round. The results were a replay of the 2004 Olympic standings, though of course Chris, the Games silver medalist, was on a far less-experienced mount than he rode in Athens.
Another masterful Olympic veteran, Jaime Guerra of Mexico riding the borrowed RMW Lorenz, had a rail down as the lead-off rider in the tie-breaker, while Chris's gray mare slipped on her trip but left the rails up in 42.90 seconds. That wasn't good enough for the American's third Invitational win, though, as Baloubet logged one less stride than Oranta between the first and second fences to come confidently through the finish in 40.65 seconds.
Going last, Great Britain's Nick Skelton knew exactly what he had to do, but couldn't get it done on Arko III, taking chances and dropping two rails in his quest to best Rodrigo, winding up fourth.
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- Chris Kappler and VDL Oranta
- © Nancy Jaffer 2006
Nick wasn't surprised at the outcome.
"When that horse jumps around like that, it's nearly impossible to beat him," he said of Baloubet. But you've got to try to win, don't you? So you go flat out, and that's it."
Chris agreed.
"The other horse is an old, experienced, great champion. You have to be more than on your game to beat that," he acknowledged.
But Rodrigo knew better than to count on victory under the unusual circumstances of the Invitational, in which none of the horses have schooled in the stadium.
"I took quite a bit of risk. You never have it in the bag until the last horse through," he said.
"In a situation where you come for a class that's not really part of a show...and the atmosphere is kind of special and with the lights, a lot of things can distract them (the horses) and end in a bad result. I'm delighted."
Course designer Steve Stephens told me before the class that he was looking for seven or eight in the jump-off, or at least more than he had in 2005, when only two made it into the final round. The bogey fence then was a viaduct that was so airy more than one horse tried to go under it. This time, he put white fence panels beneath the wavy topline, and the jump proved to be no problem, falling only twice.
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- Raymond James Stadium, home of the American Invitational
- © Nancy Jaffer 2006
Although Steve was pleased that every jump came down at least once, there was a troublesome obstacle this time too, 11A, the first part of an oxer-vertical double four fences from the end of the route. The oxer was built on a liverpool, but the reflection from the water didn't seem to be the problem. The fact that it was a big, square fence, 4-feet, 11 and 1/2 inches high with a 5-6 spread, and so near the end of the course meant that many horses were tiring as they approached it. It came down 17 times, with the front rail falling as riders got too close, or the back rail toppling when riders stood off a little for safety.
"Just that jump by itself would have been a big jump," observed Lauren Hough, who cleared it but had the seventh fence, a 4-7 by 4-9 oxer, down to finish 12th on Clasiko.
Beezie Madden, last year's winner on Authentic, also had a rail at number seven to wind up sixth.
"He got a little tired. It looked like he slipped," said Beezie, who thought her horse jumped well otherwise.
Authentic and McLain Ward's mount, Sapphire--who finished seventh after a knockdown at 11A--both were excused from the World Equestrian Games selection trials and will be heading to Europe to prepare for the WEG in Aachen, Germany, this summer.
