Giavanna Rinaldi Races towards Bronze Honors in $25,000 Hermes Grand Prix CSI U-25 at Wellington

By Jumper News USA on March 29, 2023

Wellington, Floridam, USA – February 19, 2023 –The final morning of WEF 6 kicked off with just over 70 of the sport’s top up-and-coming young riders taking to the grass derby field at Equestrian Village. The ^CHF$25,000 Hermès Grand Prix CSI U-25 launched a full day of top sport to cap the week with Ireland’s Tom Wachman (IRL) claiming a win just two days after his 18th birthday.

Riding Coolmore Showjumping‘s 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood / Royal Dutch Sport Horse mare I’m Here (Carambole x Numero Uno), Wachman produced two fault-free efforts throughout the first round and eleven-horse jump-off. The short-course contenders represented six individual countries.

Coming off a win in the Wellington Equestrian Realty CSI 3* 1.45m earlier in the week aboard Lazzaro Delle Schiave, Wachman was at it again with a new mount. “I just started riding her at the beginning of WEF, but she’s had a great start to the season and won two classes here during WEF 4,” said Wachman.

Wachman has been a competitor in the Under 25 Grand Prix series at WEF for several years now and detailed the level of difficulty throughout the season, saying, “It’s a very competitive series because they are all good riders who are well-mounted. It’s always interesting to me to follow the standings because they change quite a lot throughout the circuit.”

As for his success against the stacked field today, Wachman credited his mount’s large step and ability to leave out strides in several lines as the key to the top position. “In the turn from fence two to three I did eight strides on the turnback, and then after the double combination we did ten strides over to the next big oxer,” he described. “I don’t think anyone else did those numbers in those areas.”

Speed queen Grace Debney (GBR) secured the second place finish landing a little less than two seconds behind Wachman’s time of 34.78 seconds to clear the timers with Temple Equestrian, LLC’s nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare Jesprit H.S (Eldorado v/d Zeshoek x Carosso VDL) in 36.16 seconds.

Giavanna Rinaldi put forward a top finish for the United States, taking the third-place position with a final time of 36.66 seconds aboard Stephen Macken’s 13-year-old Oldenburg mare Chacco Cherry PS (Chaccomo x Continue).

WEF 6 is the second week of Under 25 competition at Wellington International. The 2023 Hermès Under 25 Grand Prix Series winner will take home an Hermès Saddle, a $10,000 store credit to Hermès, and will be invited to compete at a select show or tour in Europe, with round-trip transportation for one horse generously provided by the Dutta Corp.