Cassio Rivetti and Alanine De Vains Victorious in $9,100 Vitaflex 1.40m CSI3* at National Sunshine Series I
FEI CSI3* competition, presented by Marshall & Sterling, kicked off on Thursday at the Desert International Horse Park. The highlight event of the second day of competition during the National Sunshine Series was the $9,100 1.40m, sponsored by VitaFlex, where 32 horse and rider combinations vied for the winning honors in the two-phase competition. Brazil’s Cassio Rivetti proved to be the best with Alanine De Vains, edging out Jamie Taylor and Cocoliche of Greenhill Z by just 3/10ths of second to take home the top prize.
The first part of Alan Wade’s (IRL) two-phase course began with a long bending line followed by a vertical-double combination. The athletes that mastered the first phase advanced to the second phase, where they had to pick up the pace through several turns before finishing over an oxer-vertical double combination ahead of the final VitaFlex oxer.
As tenth in the order, Australia’s Matt Williams set the early pace to beat aboard his own Yandoo Pennsylvania, breaking the beam in a double-clear 26.78 seconds, which would hold up for an eventual fourth place finish. Klee Hellerman (USA) was the first to best his time, stopping the clock in a fault-free 26.52 seconds with BP Wakita, owned by Trefoil Farm LLC.
They would not hold on to the lead for long though as Rivetti galloped into the ring with Lindemann Barnett Sporthorses’ Alanine De Vains. The 11-year-old Selle Francais mare let out several bucks through the first phase, but her full focus was on speeding through the second phase, easily clearing the track and galloping through the timers in 24.63 seconds.
The only combination that came close to catching Rivetti was Taylor riding Spyglass Hill’s Cocoliche of Greenhill Z. They were clear over all of the fences, but just 3/10ths of a second too slow to take the lead. Rivetti would lead the lap of honor, while Taylor placed second and Hellerman rounded out the top three.
Phelps Media Group – Desert Horse Park | Photo Phelps Tori Bilas – Cassio Rivetti and Alanine de Vains
