OltreOceano is known as “Mister Cooking” for his (failed) marriage to the Italian-American fictional protagonist Kaley Cuoco and his surname. The American Karl Cook won the Rome Grand Prix (two rounds, 1.60 hurdles, 500 thousand euro prize money, 50 qualified) at the conclusion of the 91st International Show Jumping Competition in Piazza di Siena. An edition that the Italian Equestrian Sports Federation should close in a drawer and throw away the key.
The Yankee knight had in the French Caracole de la Roque a partner who made him reconcile with the fairer sex. The twelve-year-old bay daughter of Zandor meekly followed the far from easy trajectories created by the field director Uliano Vezzani (only 6 pairs out of 50 did not make mistakes) and he did his best to quickly complete the second round of jumps, which only 13 could access. In the second round, Cook printed another clear path with kronos of 38″27, pocketing 125 thousand euros which he will have to share with the Top Stallion Company that owns Caracole. The mayor took to the field to reward him with the traditional Lupa Capitolina (this hadn’t happened since Raggi’s time). Roberto Gualtieri, tricolor sash and big smile, beautiful occasions.
The Austrian is also on the podium Max Kuhner second with Electric Blue (38’58) and the Swede third Petronella Anderson on Odina van Klapscheut (39’78).
The blue platoon (9 qualified pairs) dissolved in the sun of the first round and only Giulia Martinengo on Delta del’Isle finished in a dignified 13th place. It is the first time that, in the last four years, we have not been among the finalists of the Premio Roma (in 2022 Bucci was third), after the 2019/2015 period in which we were first in 2018 with Lorenzo De Luca and second with Alberto Zorzi in 2017. A negative result which – with the 8th place in the Nations Cup on Friday, the failure of the Italian team to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the exclusion from the assembly of the best ten countries – makes Italian show jumping a discipline from the third world.
