Rodrigo Pessoa Reigns Supreme in Geneva

Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa made it a double when winning the Gandini Top Ten Final in Geneva tonight with a vintage performance from Baloubet du Rouet. Last to go in the second round, he only had to jump clear to take the title for the second time in the five-year history of the event, and the 2003 champion did it in style when his 16 year old stallion once more rose to the big occasion.

The Palexpo arena in Geneva was packed to capacity for the exciting competition which, offering a prize-fund of almost €114,000 and with the added bonus of a Rolex watch for the winner is one every rider wants to take.

Christian Ahlmann, currently lying 12th in the world rankings, gained access to the class when Britain's Nick Skelton and America's Beezie Madden did not travel to the Swiss fixture and, first into the ring with the eight year old Lorenzo, the German collected five faults. Sweden's Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and MacKinley finished inside the time but left a pole on the floor when next to go and then the reigning European gold medallists, Germany's Marco Kutscher and Montender, clipped the vertical at fence three.

Eurocommerce Monaco was jumping for fun for Gerco Schroder when returning a lovely clear round but the clock showed a single time penalty and then Ireland's Jessica Kurten and Castle Forbes Libertina made it all the way to the very last fence - a liverpool oxer - before making their only mistake. Ludger Beerbaum, who took the Top Ten title in both 2001 and 2002, cleared the treble combination at fence eight but his young gelding Enorm caught the narrow stile that followed at fence nine so, with just four left to go, no clear round had yet been recorded.

Markus Fuchs was to change that however as he steered Granie round for a fault-free performance that drove the home-crowd wild with delight and then Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum fell victim to one of the questions asked by course designers Heiner Fischer and Rolf Ludi when she got her line wrong between the big blue wall at fence six and the following rustic oxer where Shutterfly clipped the back rail.

Second-last to go in the opening round, Baloubet du Rouet looked his usual over-confident self as he bounced into the ring but Pessoa kept him on a short stride over the first few fences to keep his trademark exuberance in check and it paid off as the Brazilian partnership left all the timber in place to join Fuchs on a zero score while Marcus Ehning looked like doing exactly the same with the ultra-obedient Gitania who, however picked up one time fault as Ehning put in an extra stride going to the last.

Last year's champion, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, was first out in round two and added just one time fault to finish with a total of five and Christian Ahlmann finished on the same score when his lovely young bay was clear this time out. "It was my fault we had the faults in the first round" Ahlmann said afterwards, "but Lorenzo is still very young so I'm actually very happy".

Kurten's mare, Libertina, shoved the bricks off the top of the wall to bring their tally to eight but the rider said "I'm not too disappointed, she is potentially my best horse and she was green in the first round". Montender however was just not on form, finishing with a total of 16 faults for Marco Kutscher who pointed out that the horse has not jumped much since the European Championships - "and that did not help us today" he said.

Rolf-Goran Bengtsson brought his total to eight with one more mistake, again at the tricky rustic oxer, and Ludger Beerbaum's Enorm faulted at exactly the same spot. Afterwards his rider was clearly annoyed with himself saying "this horse has enormous potential but it was not easy for him because I was riding badly - like a beginner!" Ehning and Gitania were foot-perfect this time out and the German rider commented "I was too careful in the first round so I picked up one time fault but my horse was fantastic". Gerco Schroder hit the wall when trying to take a tighter line so then it was left to the remaining two riders, both on a zero score, to decide the result.

Markus Fuchs knew he had crowd on his side and they roared encouragement as he headed off, but the bogey rustic oxer hit the floor once more. As always his sense of humour kicked in when he was interviewed afterwards however as the 50 year old rider said "I'm so young - maybe next time I will get it right!" So when Pessoa cantered into the ring he knew a clear would clinch it and that's exactly what he did. The 33 year old Brazilian star has an uncanny ability to produce extra-special performances when the big money is up for grabs and, once again, his stallion was in a class of his own as they made it all look so very, very easy.

"It is fantastic to have a horse like this" he said, giving the credit to his great partner Baloubet. "He's an extraordinary horse, now 16 years old but you would never know it". Adding yet another Rolex watch to his already extensive collection he is now looking forward to going to Dubai next month and has consequently decided that Baloubet will not run in Sunday's FEI World Cup Qualifier in Geneva. And he was very proud that his Team Sony Ericsson colleagues, Ehning and Fuchs, finished second and third respectively in the Gandini Top Ten Final tonight.

Sony Ericsson is ending its show jumping sponsorship after six years but Pessoa said he would be on the telephone to them tomorrow after the superb result they had today. "The company is going in a completely different direction and will be sponsoring women's tennis but we did a good job for them and I plan to call them after this" he added.

RESULT: 1, Baloubet du Rouet (Rodrigo Pessoa) Bra 0/0 49.82; 2, Gitania (Marcus Ehning) Ger 1/0 47.76; 3, Granie (Markus Fuchs) Sui 0/4 45.43; 4, Eurocommerce Monaco (Gerco Schroder) Ned 1/4 47.01; 5, Lorenzo (Christian Ahlmann) Ger 5/0 51.21; 6, Shutterfly (Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum) Ger 4/1 52.17; 7, MacKinley (Rolf-Goran Bengtsson) Swe 4/4 46.32; 8, Enorm (Ludger Beerbaum) Ger 4/4 47.00; 9, Castle Forbes Libertina (Jessica Kurten) Irl 4/4 47.31; 10, Montender (Marco Kutscher) Ger 4/12 52.96.