Patroni a Chance to Prep for Worlds

Kiwi eventers are in Italy this week competing at the eventing test event and looking to see how to be best prepared for the FEI World Championships at the same venue later this year.
World no. 5 Jonelle Price with Faerie Magnifico, world no.6 Tim Price with Falco, their Tokyo teammate Jesse Campbell aboard Diachello and Amanda Pottinger with Good Timing will all compete at the event, with Clarke Johnstone attending as an observer.
Nine-year-old Faerie Magnifico has been with Jonelle since 2019 when it first competed internationally. Last year she was second in the CCi3*-L at Millstreet and fourth in the CCI4*-S at Lignieres. The Brit-bred mare is by Birkhof’s Grafenstolz, out of Faerie Song Too, who is by Catherston Dazzler.
Tim’s mount Falco burst onto the top scene when the now 13-year-old won the CCI5*-L at Pau on debut, having previously won the CCI4*-L at Millstreet and placed sixth in the CCIO4*-S at Aachen.
The 13-year-old German-bred Hanoverian is by Cardenio 2 out of Witta, who is by Weinberg.
Twelve-year-old Diachello is also German bred and is by Diarado out of Visser Cholin, who is by Chello I. He and Jesse were just out of the top 10 at Kentucky in their only 5* start.
Good Timing will be having his first international start since leaving New Zealand. It will be the first 4*-S start for the 11-year-old thoroughbred who was very consistent onshore.
The 67-strong start list also includes entries from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States.
ESNZ high performance manager Jock Paget says the Patroni event is all about team and learning. “We have some strong combinations who are capable of winning while there but the priority from a team perspective is to gather information, learn about what we need to do for the championship and help prepare the team in the wider sense,” he says.
The competition gets underway on Wednesday (May 11) with the first horse inspection, followed by two days of dressage, cross country and then finally the showjumping.
The eventing test event is also the first leg of the 2022 FEI Nations Cup, a series of eight team competitions held in Europe and North America, and also the 2022 Italian Championships.
Patroni, which is just 35 kilometres from Rome, played host to the 1998 World Champs which were hugely successful for New Zealand. The eventing team – comprising Blyth Tait aboard Ready Teddy, Sir Mark Todd on Broadcast News, Vaughn Jefferis with Bounce, and Sally Clark on Squirrel Hill – won gold, with Blyth taking individual gold, and Mark the silver medal. The endurance team also won gold and it was the first time New Zealand had a dressage team at a Worlds.
 
The horse details –
Falco – owned by Sue Benson and Tim Price
Faerie Magnifico – owned by Trisha Rickards
Good Timing – owned by The Volunteer Syndicate
Diachello – owned by Kent Gardner and Jesse Campbell
 
WHAT: Test Event for FEI Eventing World Champs – CCIO4*-S
WHEN: May 11-15, 2022
WHERE: Patroni del Vivaro, Italy
MORE INFO: https://pratoni2022.it/en/info