It’s the third time for Italy and the first for Uliano Vezzani. The Ippodromo Snai San Siro is the third Italian location for the FEI Jumping European Championship (30th August-3rd September).
Before Milan, the continental event enjoyed Rome in 1963 and San Patrignano in 2005.
But for Italian most appreciated course designer this will be a premiere in an European Championship.
Born in Emilia Romagna 66 years ago, ‘The Maestro’ (I was given the nickname years ago in Los Angels on a promotional poster for the event and since then that was my name…) has been chef de piste in San Siro in 2022, for the second edition of Milano Jumping Cup, when the show upgraded to the 4 stars.
Vezzani has been building the courses for CSIO Rome Piazza di Siena-Master d’Inzeo and Jumping Verona, the main jumping competitions in Italy. He has been designing the courses in many legs of the Global Champions Tour, the international circuit which is considered like the F1 in the worldwide show jumping, also in the Italian leg that in 2021 took place in the iconic Circo Massimo.
In 2022, for the first time, Uliano looked also after the jumping competition in the FEI Eventing World Championship at Pratoni del Vivaro.
«It will be my first Senior European Championship. It’s a great satisfaction… The kind of think that pushes you to work very hard all the time. I certainly feel the pressure that it come with the wish to do my best. The course will be set on a ground that once hosted a golf green, in the middle of the race tracks. I surveyed the whole transformation process. The Organizing Committee did a fantastic job. The ground has been levelled and resodded with the turf of one of the galloping tracks, that will give way to the trotting track».
Vezzani explains what is the difference in his job when you are dealing with such a Championship.
«The main aspect is that the European Championship is not awarded on a single competition, like in a GP, but in a series of four competitions in four days. So each courses has to be studied carefully. They will be inspected and approved by a technical delegate of the International Federation. It’s a whole different way of thinking about it and designing them. I will start to concentrate on it after Piazza di Siena, five or six weeks before the event. I will certainly think about some obstacles inspired by Milan».
