After future equestrian stars stole the show during the leadline class in the Lakeside Arena, thirty horse-and-rider pairs from nine countries vied for the top spot in the TerraNova Winter Series II $65,000 Howard Leasing FEI 1.45m Grand Prix. It was six-time Olympian Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) riding the gray mare, Chili, who earned the win.

Manuel Esparza (MEX), an FEI Level 3 course designer who assisted with courses at several Olympic Games, built Friday’s Welcome and Saturday’s $500 1.40m FEI Two Phase courses, which gave the riders a glimpse into what they could expect in Saturday’s feature class.

Photo – Rodrigo Pessoa (BRA) and Chili won the $65,000 Howard Leasing FEI 1.45m Grand Prix. (EQ Media)

Esparza’s CSI2* grand prix course had fifteen jumping efforts and a time allowed of 75 seconds and included three combinations – an oxer-vertical two stride, a vertical-oxer one stride and a vertical-vertical one stride.

Placed along the spectator stands, the triple bar, flanked with standards sporting Florida oranges, was set at the course’s maximum height of 1.45m and spread of 1.80m. Landing off the wide triple bar, horses galloped six strides to the “See You at the Show” circus in-and-out on the VIP Pavilion rail and then five strides to the last vertical.

Playing

“We play a little bit sometimes in the difficult lines, we go a little lower,” Esparza said. “We have a chance to go a couple centimeters up when we need it. This group is a really nice group of horses and riders. I think this is a fair track for them.”

With eleven riders returning for the jump off, a fast and tidy track was of the essence. The short course was 14 (original fence 5 reversed), 1, 9a-b, 6, 7b, 8 and fresh to the course fence 15.

Returning to the ring as fifth in the jump-off order, Great Britain’s Amanda Derbyshire and Destine To Be (Diamant de Semilly x Sonora), the 8-year-old warmblood gelding co-owned with David Blake, quickly nipped around the course in 37.38. The pair took the lead from four-time Olympian Beezie Madden (USA) and Hummer Z by eight-tenths of a second.

Watch Rodrigo Pessoa’s winning jump off!

Pessoa and Chili (Consolidator x Belotte de la Vie Z), the 12

-year-old Westphalian mare owned by Artemis Equestrian Farm LLC, were the ninth duo to return. While they added a stride in two lines on the course, when compared to Derbyshire and Lennon, the CSI5*-experienced mare was faster across the ground, sneaking Pessoa into the lead by 0.48 seconds.

“(Chili’s) a very fast mare, really great for classes like this,” Pessoa said. “She’s very competitive, always looking for the next jump, which is a great thing in a speed horse. You can really cut her loose. I had a plan to be tight everywhere and to go as fast as I possibly could. She was perfect; I’m very happy with her performance today.”

Unbelievable

In March 2023, Pessoa and Chili won the $77,300 The Estates at TerraNova FEI 2* 1.45m Grand Prix during TerraNova Hunter/Jumper Week 3. “It’s always fantastic to come here, the facility is really unbelievable,” Pessoa said. “Everybody is so nice. It is so peaceful; we really love coming here.”

Dermott Lennon (IRL) and King Kannan GP were second in the $65,000 Howard Leasing FEI 1.45m Grand Prix. Photo by EQ Media

Tenth in the jump-off order, Dermott Lennon (IRL) and King Kannan GP (Kannan x Dominka), the 9-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Elan Farm, stopped the timers at 37.25, which dropped Derbyshire to third.

“Nice course today, the horses had to be careful and rideable,” Lennon said. “I thought (it was) up to height but fair. Jump off was good with a nice mixture of turns and runs. Great class for spectators, as well as riders! I have to say, the facility is very nice, it’s in a beautiful setting.”