Big Star, the 10 year old bay stallion owned by Beverley Widdowson and ridden by Nick Skelton, won the Grand Prix in Rome today at the CSIO 5* show in the beautiful setting of the Piazza Di Siena in Rome. Big Star was previously co-owned by Everse Stables.
Putting in yet another faultless double clear, Big Star proved to the crowd once again what a talent he is. He wowed the crowds at the London 2012 Olympic Games with the pivotal role he played in securing Great Britain a Team Gold medal; he did it again today in Rome bringing spectators to their feet in his honour.
In a competition that saw forty six competitors come forward in their hope to win the main share of the €200,000 prize fund at stake, it was fourteen that managed to go clear and secure their place in the jump off. Knowing that there were some fast riders behind him and that he had to beat Robert Smiths time if he was to have a chance of winning; Nick set off at a pace that was obvious to everyone he was out to win. Making it look easy and with an evident zest for the job ahead, Big Star cleared every fence making turns that you wouldn’t have thought possible stopping the clock at a time of 41.23 seconds.
It was a jump off that took showjumping right to the edge, with the packed grandstands knowing that there was still an incredibly strong field to follow. The atmosphere was made all the more electric as the rider that followed Nick, home rider Emanuele Gaudiano only just missed out from tipping Nick from pole position by 0.08 second and relegating Robert to 3rd place.
A jubilant Nick was absolutely thrilled to have won such a hard fought class. The respect he has for Big Star’s talent was summed up in his comment “He is unbelievable. He has jumped six clear rounds in the past ten days at both La Baule and now in Rome. He is a horse in a million, incredibly special and incredibly talented”.