Riders’ Comments About the CSIO in Rome

Peter Charles, Great Britain – “For me, Rome is the show with the most character of all the Nations Cup events that we do, and it is the one show in the year that I would not want to miss”.

Cian O’Connor, Ireland – “Rome is a show steeped in history and tradition. This is my fourth time to be here in the past seven years and its one of my favourite shows”.

Philippe Le Jeune, Belgium – “I have not been to this show for 12 years so I’m seeing a lot of changes since the last time I was here. The grass arena was very beautiful, but I think its good to be jumping on sand now, the going looks good, and the warm-up is so much better than it used to be. Also the horses have shade over the warm-up ring which is important on a hot day like this!”.

Rodrigo Pessoa, Brazil – “Rome Show is one of the last really old classics. I think it’s good to have the sand ring, because this is a public park so there is not a lot of time to get the place ready before the show each year. Rome has always been a nice place for me, I won the Grand Prix here two years ago and I won the World Championship just down the road in 1998 – I always enjoy coming here”.

Charlie Jayne, USA – “This is a show like no other, the history behind it is amazing. If you were to make a comparison from a US perspective then it’s like running a show in Central Park in New York City! The show organisers do a fantastic job, our Chef d’Equipe George Morris showed here over 40 years ago and it’s a great honour to be here. It’s a special place and the horses seem to know it’s special too!”

Nina Fagerstrom, Finland – “It’s my first time here and I believe it’s also the first time a Finnish rider has ever competed here so I think I’m making history! I’m delighted to be here. It has happened because I’ve risen up the world rankings pretty rapidly over the last 12 months. This time last year I think I was about 160 on the rankings and now I’m somewhere around 50. That gives me more chances to do the big shows which previously had not been open to Finnish riders”.

Gerco Schroder, The Netherlands – “It is a very nice arena here, and Rome is a particularly nice show. However I’ve never had much luck here in previous years, so I hope that’s going to change this time around!”.

Shane Carey, Ireland – “I have some great memories of this place. I was second in the Grand Prix here in 2005 with Killossery and was Leading Rider in 2003. My parents also got married in Rome – it is such a beautiful city!”.

JosLansink, Belgium – “The Top League shows are doing a great job so far this season. La Baule was very good and now everything looks good here in Rome also. Everything is nice”.

Marcus Ehning, Germany – “This is only my third time to attend Rome Show – it is very nice”.