Bologna, July 19, 2022 – Mission accomplished! Italy’s Luca Cassottana has qualified for the Fei Driving World Championships 2022 to be held from 21 to 25 September at Pratoni del Vivaro.
With his four-in-hand team (Dutch horses Ivar, Kassandro, Lady Killer, Sandro Boy and Timor), he grabbed his ‘pass’ to the world competition on the points he collected in the dressage test (57.10, well below the 65 required for qualification) and regularly completing the competition.
Luca Cassottana, 42 years old, was born in Nizza Monferrato and lives in Priocca. He shares his time between his activity as a building contractor and his passion for equestrian sports and horses in general.
«At the beginning I was involved with show jumping. I met driving thanks to a friend of mine who told me ‘You choose the horses, I buy the carriages’. Osvaldo Tiengo was my first instructor, but for a few years now I have been training with the Dutchman Bram Chardon, who is one of the best and most talented drivers. He comes to Piedmont four to five times a year and with his valuable guidance, this qualification for Pratoni 2022 has finally arrived».
Cassottana is entering his sixth World Championships. The previous five have all been in ‘single’ (2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and in 2020, 18th and best result in Pau with Rassel). This is therefore Cassottana’s first four-in-hand Fei Championship.
«I moved to four-in-hand almost by chance after Pau 2020. I found myself with this string of five horses and… after some national competitions, I scored a good success in the CAI3* in Pleternica, Croatia. Now we performed this qualification for the World Championships… Before Pratoni 2022, from 28 to 31 July, we will compete in another CAI3* in Beekbergen, in Holland».
Formerly in charge for the Fise’s driving youth promotion and development, Luca Cassottana is also a federal instructor at the ASD LC Driving Team, a small club he owns in Magliano Alfieri, in the province of Cuneo. There he has just eleven boxes, six of which are for his own horses (Ivar, Kassandro, Lady Killer, Sandro Boy and Timor) plus Rassel, which he uses in the single.
Recently, he gave up his Caprichoso to the youth Giorgia Brillantino, 17, from Piacenza. They will be competing at the Fei Junior European Championships in Aszar Kisber, Hungary, next month, from 16 to 21 August.