WASHINGTON, D.C.--Olympic gold medalist Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil on Major Tom won the $340,000 FEI Jumping World Cup to be presented with the President’s Cup on Saturday evening, Oct.26 at the Washington International Horse Show.
Rodrigo Pessoa on Major Tom (Photo by Shawn McMillen)In his first grand prix victory in Washington, Pessoa, third to go in the class of 33, was the first to go clean in the first round over the course set by Nick Granat, who was designing his first World Cup track.
The strange thing was that most of the highest rated riders didn't make the jump-off, with a few of them racking up as much as 21 faults and a couple retiring.
They included Laura Kraut on Baloutinue and Kent Farrigton on Myla, each with four faults, Darragh Kenny, 12 faults, Shane Sweetnam and Richie Vogel, 16 faults each, McLain Ward, 20 faults, and Aaron Vale, 21 faults, while Conor Swail and Abdel Said both retired.
Four more went clean after Pessoa, who was first to go in the jump-off and finished clean in 38.77 seconds.
KRISTEN VANDERVEEN on Bull Run’s Jireh went next in the jump-off, and ,after what appeared at the time to be her losing her stirrup over the second to last fence, had the last fence down for four faults in 39.63 seconds to eventually place third.
“When I turned tight back on the vertical, he was a superstar to get over it clear, and my left leg aggressively slipped back in the air and caught my stirrup behind the saddle," said Vanderveen. "I could not get it uncaught, then I think my balance was way off. I didn’t have a lot left to help him out. I was just trying to hold on at that point and just finish up as best we could, but I really couldn't get it free.”
“Jireh has all of what I think the right pieces are,” she said, “so I've wanted to not rush him. Now he's jumped a few five stars, and this is also our first indoor show. I was really happy.”
Carly Anthony was next on Heavenly W and had eight faults in the fastest time of 36.75 seconds to finish fourth.
Last year’s grand prix winner, Katherine Dinan went second to last on Out of the Blue SCF, and was close to making it a repeat victory with a clear round, but she was just not as fast as Pessoa, finishing in 40.27 seconds to place second.
This was Out of the Blue's first indoor horse show, and he hasn't had much experience jumping off at this level.
“I'm still in a building relationship phase with this horse, so I was thrilled to be second behind Rodrigo. I'll take that,” Dinan said.
Dinan has had the most starts in the grand prix at Washington since 2014 with eight rides in the class, along with three clear rounds and two top three finishes before to this year’s edition.
“I think if you had told me this morning I'd be second, I would have taken that all day long,” she said. “But then of course looking back, I was a second and a half behind. I could easily have made it up, but my horse gave 110% today, and super kudos to her.”
Last to go was Olympian Daniel Bluman of Israel on Gemma W, who had eight faults in 37.43 seconds for fifth place.
Pessoa found Major Tom in 2020 when the horse was competing in Europe with Ireland’s Michael Duffy.
“He's always been amazing since the first day we got him,” said Pessoa. “He's a very sensitive horse and very delicate, so we really had to take our time with him. But I feel that now as some years have gone by, he's really starting to mature and really be able to express himself the way that we always hoped. I'm really thrilled with his performance tonight. He was pretty impeccable.
“I think, for me, he’s one of the best horses that I've ever had,” said Pessoa, “but he really needed that time to get in his own space and be comfortable.”
Major Tom was International Open Jumper Champion, and First Lady, ridden by McLain Ward, was reserve champion.
Conor Swail of Ireland was Leading International Jumper Rider, Nina Mallevaey of France was the Leading U25 Rider, and Jessica Mendoza of Great Britain was Leading Lady Rider/
