Vittoria and Borough Pennyz at Bramham
Italian squad member for Rio, Vittoria Panizzon is out of contention for the Italian team through injury incurred at Upton House Horse Trials this week. Shortly after winning the Open Novice class on Argentinus, Vittoria fell from Menlo Park in the Novice and broke her collarbone
“The highs and lows of eventing!” says Vittoria on her Facebook page “Similar things have happened to me before and life does go on with plenty to be grateful for, but I cannot deny I longed to make Rio since I first I first heard of it and missing representing ones country at the Olympics at this near stage is one of the toughest mishaps. Devastated for my whole team and sponsors and especially for Pennyz, a medallist in my eyes and a very special friend”
Thankfully Vittoria has an amazing sense of humour adding “Ironically, adding insult to injury I was visited at home for a dope test last night, not long after A&E painkillers, it took two hours and a lot of tea, luckily my visiting guests saw the funny side!”
Italy has yet to confirm their team but it was likely that Vittoria and Borough Pennyz would have been a key combination, having represented Italy successfully in the past, 11th at London 2012 and 16th in Beijing 2008
We’ll miss not seeing the magical Borough Pennyz whose athleticism sometimes can be hard to handle, as we saw at Barbury where Vittoria was very nearly jumped off!
