Rodrigo Pessoa wins G&C Farm 1.45m in Wellington

Rodrigo Pessoa and HH Palouchin.
By sportfot.com

Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa and his speedy HH Palouchin, owned by Double H Farm, won the $8,000 G&C Farm 1.45m on the first day of Winter Equestrian Festival's (WEF) third week.

There were 31 starters over Germany's Olaf Petersen's speed course and 10 of those were clear.

Rodrigo and HH Palouchin (formerly named Palouchin de Ligny), a 12-year-old Belgian warmblood gelding by Baloubet du Rouet x Chin Chin, have been a dynamic duo in the speed classes for many years. And this class was no different. They set the time to beat at 61.13 seconds.

Mexico's Enrique Gonzalez and Katina were close to catching them in 61.99 seconds during the closing rounds of the class, but just missed out for second place. Week one winners Nick Skelton and Unique, owned by Beverly Widdowson, were third in 64.21 seconds.

Homebred winner
HH Palouchin is out of a mare named Chin China, a horse that Rodrigo used to ride as a junior and by his most famous champion mount, Baloubet du Rouet. Being a homebred horse, HH Palouchin has been ridden by Rodrigo for his entire career.

"He's been a very good horse for us," said Rodrigo. "He's a horse that's very competitive and wins a lot of classes. He's maybe the best in his category. It gives good morale to have a horse that wins like that. They may be smaller classes, but a win is a win. If you enter, you know you have a chance at winning. I wouldn't venture to enter him in a big Grand Prix, but in the classes where he's good, we try to pick those and ride well. In the end, he does all the rest."

The chesnut speedster has a distinctive way of going, with Rodrigo easing him around the course and letting him continue in his fast pace.

"He's always been a very sensitive horse with a lot of blood," said Rodrigo. "It's easier for him to do a round like this than to go slow and do training. He doesn't like that. He gets all upset. The best is to let him go and let him do his thing and try to leave the jumps up."

Double H Farm, owned by Hunter Harrison, is Rodrigo's sponsor. They purchased HH Palouchin just a few weeks ago.

"After the first [Equestrian Sport Productions] Grand Prix here in the New Year, where he won [on the] Saturday night, some people were interested in him," Rodrigo explained. "Mr Harrison said that we should keep the horse in our string. We transferred him from our ownership to Double H Farm, which is really great for me because I get to continue to ride the horse."

Rodrigo is also the doting father of daughter Cecilia, from his previous marrriage, and Sophie, the newest addition to his family who is just weeks old, with his wife Alexa.

"It's a great thing to get back to her at the end of the day. She's my second daughter, and it's really exciting," said Rodrigo. "You can win any Grand Prix or championship, but it's nothing like this feeling. It's very special."

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