Italy’s Emilio Bicocchi posted his second successive win at Piazza di Siena today when snatching victory with Paliane W (Emilion x Indorado) when last to go in the Land Rover 1.50m Speed competition. He was chasing the target time set by Derin Demirsoy who went fourth of the 47 starters, breaking the beam in 58.18 seconds. And it seemed that time could not be bettered until Bicocchi set off with the eight-year-old mare Faliane W who scorched across the finish line in 57.56 seconds to pin the 24-year-old Turkish rider back to runner-up spot.

“I started quite fast, my mare has a lot of quality and I have great hopes for her for the future. I’m riding her for 18 months and at first I had some problems, not with her jumping but with her character. Since end of last year however she has progressed really well and now that she is competing at this level I’m very happy and proud!” he said.

Bicocchi saw Demirsoy’s round: “He took a fast option before the second-last fence but I couldn’t do the same because my horse is too inexperienced.  So I wasn’t sure I’d be fast enough but I thought I would be either first or second. The biggest question on the course was the combination at fence seven because you needed to jump it at an angle to be fast, so there was a risk you would lose the inner shoulder balance there. There were a lot of mistakes at that fence, but Paliane was perfect!” he added.

Although he seemed to have victory in his grasp until the very last moment, Demirsoy was far from disappointed about having to settle for runner-up spot. “I’m very happy, my horse Dadjak jumped great today. We stuck to our plan and it worked out. I’m very glad to be here in Rome for this beautiful show and to do well is just amazing! It’s a wonderful location, a first for me and I’m very happy to be here!” he said.

Talking about his tactics in the round that put him out in front and became the one for all the rest to beat, Demirsoy said: “My horse has a big stride and my goal was to keep it smooth and do as tight turns as possible - today it worked!” The talented young rider moved from Turkey to Europe when he was 17 and is currently based at Vincent Voorn’s stables in The Netherlands.

He’s very pleased with the form his horses are in right now and is hoping to line out in Sunday’s Rolex Grand Prix. “Dadjak has been doing very well lately. He’s a 15-year-old owned by the Turkish Federation and I’m lucky enough to be competing with him. He’s had very good results in the last competitions, and this is one of the highlights - a 5-Star in Rome! I also have Harry K - he’s been with more over four years now. He’s been very successful in Nations Cups and Grand Prix classes everywhere. But again we’ve never been in Rome and this is quite a big event for us, so I hope it goes well,” he said.