From show jumping to eventing - young Gabriel Cury riding Grass Valley has made the Brazilian team in just one year
Marcelo Tosi riding Eleda All Black, Ruy Fonseca riding Tom Bombadill Too, Márcio Jorge riding Josephine and Gabriel Cury riding Grass Valley have been nominated as the Brazilian eventing team for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Normandy.
Three of the team are very experienced riders who already have championship caps – Ruy, Marcelo and Márcio while Gabriel is the young rookie with an amazing story. Having swopped from show jumping to eventing only recently, Gabriel has qualified for the WEG in just 12 months, partly thanks to his experienced mount, Grass Valley, previously ridden by Sir Mark Todd
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Ruy Fonseca and Tom Bombadill Too at Rolex Kentucky
As Libby Law discovered in the interview below, Ruy Fonseca is no stranger to the UK, having first visited in 1990 as a 16 year old rider and he has spent many years there in the intervening years. In 1995 Ruy was part of the gold medal winning team at the PanAm Championships, a turning point for Brazilian eventing and he has since competed at the 2010 World Equestrian Games and at the London Olympic Games, finishing 42nd riding Tom Bombadill Too. In 2013 he moved back to Rio de Janeiro for the lead up to the 2016 Olympics and is working with the organising committee to help prepare for his country’s big event
Márcio Jorge and Josephine competing at Badminton
39 year old Márcio Jorge and 44 year old Marcelo Tosi are not only Ruy’s Brazilian team mates but they are also ‘good mates – we’re all from the same pony club area so we know each other well’. Márcio, a doctor and anaesthesiologist from Sao Paulo was also a member of the Brazilian team for London 2012 where the team finished ninth and Marcio finished 46th individually. He is now based in the UK and competed at Badminton in 2014 for the first time, finishing 23rd on the very tough track on his own 11 year old 16.1h mare Josephine
Marcelo Tosi and Eleda All Black at Burghley
Marcelo was another member of the London 2012 Brazilian team riding Eleda All Black, finishing 44th individually. In 2013 in Normandy, the test-event for the 2014 World Games, Marcelo finished in tenth place and he has ridden at several 4* events including Pau in 2012, Burghley in 2013 and Badminton in 2014. Marcelo decided to base himself in Europe, first in Belgium and then the UK, after the Athens Olympics, during which he was the assistant trainer for the Brazilian team
Although these riders are currently focussed on the imminent World Championships, they also have in their minds the dream of riding as part of the Brazilian team at their home Olympics in Rio in 2016. As a part of the preparation for Rio and thanks to the funding available through their Olympic committee, Sir Mark Todd has been brought on board to work with the Brazilian team and, as Ruy says, this has created a real sense of ‘We can do it’
