“I think the course was really ideal,” Fabio explained. “It started not that difficult. It really invited the horse and the rider forward, but after number two we had to turn against the gate and ride to a double vertical, which was delicate. When we were finishing the course it got harder because there was a big oxer near the gate again – where several horses had some trouble.”

After experiencing the course aboard other rides, the Brazilian at first thought that the five strides from the vertical to the oxer before the liverpool would be too short, “but when I collected her to make the five strides easier, she came back too much and we had to add a stride to the Liverpool. After that, everything was fine,” he said of the first-round course.

He attributed the incredibly fast jump-off performance to his naturally quick horse and commented, “Even to the first jump, we had a nice, big gallop, and were able to go straight to the second jump from there. We did eight strides to the oxer after that and also in the middle of the course, I didn’t need to add because I got the first distance after the turn. It was a really good ride for us – Randon is a really fast horse and I’m a fast rider, so it’s a good match.”

“Randon came to us two years ago for Stephanie Maciera (BRA) and did a whole WEF season with Stephanie. She then went back to Brazil and did some light shows before coming back for another WEF season [to good results],” he narrated. “After that, Stephanie went back to Brazil, but the mare stayed with us and I started to ride her a little bit. I had some nice results with her in national classes. Recently in Tryon, Stephanie did two internationals with this mare and did really well again, always clear and going to the jump-off, so she placed several times. The mare is again staying with me while Stephanie is back in Brazil. I’ll probably continue to show her in some international classes during the upcoming WEF season.”