Victoria Manzitto & Noah VD Bisschop Blaze to First in the $10,000 Citarella Open Jumper Two-Phase CSI 2*

By Jumper News USA on August 31, 2024

Bridgehampton, New York, USA – August 29, 2024 – Prior to the $32,000 Two-Phase CSI 5*, 33 horse-and-rider combinations representing nine countries contested Granat’s 15-effort, 1.40m course for the $10,000 Citarella Open Jumper Two-Phase CSI 2*. Fourth-to-last to enter the ring, Victoria Manzitto (USA) and North Fork Equestrian LLC’s 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood Noah VD Bisschop brought home the win in a faultless 26.97 seconds.

Of the 19 pairs to ride clear over the initial phase, Taylor Cawley (USA) set an early time to beat aboard Jack Van’t Kattenheye with a double-clear score of 27.66 seconds. Cawley was nearly uncatchable until the final five entries in the order.

Fellow American Vanessa Hood (USA) was the first to speed ahead of Cawley, riding K&T Geromino to a double-clear time of 27.15 seconds.

Manzitto immediately followed Hood with Noah VD Bisschop, a horse with more experience in national competitions than on the FEI circuit.

“I was conservative in the first round and took a gamble in the last phase; he jumped everything fantastically,” Manzitto said. “I thought the beginning of the course rode perfectly. Overall, it rode quite well for us, and everything came up nicely. I got him from Oakland about five years ago and developed him with help from a lot of people. I’ve been his main rider for most of his life, and this was his first international class! He was super today. We had such a lucky day.”

Hood and Take Two LLC’s 9-year-old Swedish Warmblood gelding ultimately finished second, while Cawley and Ceahorse LLC’s 15-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding took third.