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The Canadian Flag Flies
Again as Eric Lamaze and Lorrain Z Beat Tough Field to Win $25,000 WEF Challenge
Cup Round II Grand Prix
Ian
Millar and Redefin Come in Close Second
The grand prix saw 71 entries
attempt a masterful course set by Michel Vaillancourt of
The first to return for the
jump-off was Lamaze on one of his three qualified horses. Lamaze set a quick,
clear pace on Why Not for the rest of the field to follow in 42.54 seconds.
Following him was Lisa Jacquin on Obourg, who carried a good pace but were just
off Lamaze’s time in 43.19 seconds.
Olympic gold medalist Rodrigo
Pessoa entered the ring next on Double H Farm’s Oasis. He pushed Oasis through
the turns, and when it came time to jump the triple bar into the one stride of
the final line, Oasis kicked out mightily over the top of it. Luckily, he stayed
clear and took the lead with a time of 41.01 seconds.
Laura Kraut and the 16 year old
Anthem, who looked younger than ever, were next to attempt the course. Kraut was
the first rider to go inside the sprinkler to approach the final line in order
to save time, but it was not quite enough when she finished in 41.03 seconds,
just a hair off of Rodrigo’s pace.
Debbie Stephens and Centennial
Farm’s All Star were next in. All Star was lofty over the jumps, but a rail at
the triple bar (13a) cost them the lead as well. Their final score was four
faults in 43.46 seconds.
The crowd waited for a short
while as Lamaze warmed up his next horse, Hickstead. Lamaze and his World
Equestrian Games mount ate up the ground with a big stride, but they were not
quite fast enough. They stopped the timers with a clear round in 41.34 seconds.
Lamaze explained afterwards that his plan was not to push Hickstead.
“Hickstead felt great. It’s his second class of the year, but his first big
one. He felt fresh in the first round, but came back very well to the jump-off.
I was fast with him, but it’s his first class, so I was a bit more cautious
than I would normally be with him,” he said. “I just tried to bring him up
for the Nations’ Cup and the bigger grand prix at the end.”
The third Canadian in the
jump-off took to the ring next. Mario Deslauriers and Available Levantos were on
a good rate, but an added stride before fence 11 caused four faults. They
finished in 42.45 seconds.
The lead would change hands
next with Lamaze’s third ride of the day, Lorrain Z. The talented mare was
quick in the air and across the ground, and they tripped the timers in 39.95
seconds.
Conor Swail and Nepomuk
galloped through the jump-off, and the big horse made the best inside turn of
the day to the final line, but they could not quite catch Lamaze. They posted a
clear round in 40.49 seconds.
The last in the jump-off was a
great threat to Lamaze’s lead. Ian Millar and Redefin, owned by Susan Grange
and Lothlorien, were coming off a fantastic first week where they won both the
Thursday and the Sunday grand prix. Millar pushed Redefin again, and Redefin
rose to the occasion by giving another great performance. It was just not quite
enough, as the scoreboard flashed 40.08 seconds for second place.
Lamaze knew his chances were
greatly improved by having three tries in the jump-off. “It’s always
helpful, for sure, to have three in the jump-off,” he said with a smile.
“Chance is on your side for sure. You could risk a few, but by the end it was
clear that you had to take all the chances that you could.”
Lorrain Z is an 11 year old
mare that competes with her owner, Ashley Fleishhacker. “She’s a horse that
my student, Ashley Fleishhacker, has now taken over. I just do the odd classes
to keep her going a little bit. It’s still a great horse to have in a
string,” Lamaze noted.
Despite his three rides, he
knew he could not rest easy knowing that Ian Millar was the last in the ring.
“Ian’s pretty fast, and his horse has been on a roll. Whenever you’ve got
this man behind you, you never consider anything to be in your pocket,” he
conveyed.
Millar continued to be pleased
with Redefin, his “second horse.” He expressed, “I was a little concerned
about his level of sophistication; this was a beautifully crafted course by
Canadian Michel Vaillancourt. A horse had to be trained just right to do it.
Redefin’s just starting to learn that aspect. Yes, it’s great to be second,
but I’m even more pleased with the way the horse responded and has learned. If
this keeps up, it’s a wonderful thing. It’s a great thing for my other
horse, In Style, to be backed up like this. If he’s got a back-up like this,
then he doesn’t have to carry the whole load the whole time. He’ll last much
longer and stay much fresher.”
Millar went for the winning
time, but knew it would be a matter of split seconds for victory. “It’s a
game of inches, and I couldn’t really tell you quite where I lost it.
Obviously, it was a little here, a little there. It wasn’t one major spot; it
wasn’t, ‘Had I done this, I would have been the winner,’” he explained.
“What always impresses me in this sport – here we are, going all over the
field with such different animals, and time after time, the times come out so
darn close together. It’s really quite extraordinary, and what the riders can
do with those times is really quite an amazing thing.”
Conor Swail has brought along
12 year old Nepomuk recently and moved him up the grand prix level. “He’s
only jumped a few bigger classes, so I’m absolutely thrilled with him,”
Swail mentioned.
About his jump-off, Swail
explained, “I think, for me, I lost it from one to two. After that, everything
went very smoothly. Like Ian says, once you lost it in this particular course,
you couldn’t get it back. For me, I just lost a little one to two and maybe
needed to have one stride less there. Everything else was very smooth.”
Nepomuk is another second horse
that has risen to the challenge for his rider. “I’ve jumped a few grand prix
on him, maybe three stars, but not that many. Normally, I use him as my second
horse also. I have a very good young horse who’s just turned nine this year; I
didn’t bring him. He would be my number one horse, and this guy is a very,
very good number two horse,” Swail asserted. “I’m delighted that I’m
putting a nice string together. He’s stepping up to the plate, I must say.”
Lamaze pointed out, “This
tour here is as competitive as it gets. If you’re fortunate enough to make it
to the jump-off, you know you’re not going to win it with a rail, maybe a
double clear. Every class is competitive.”
The competitive Winter
Equestrian Festival will continue tomorrow with jumper action in seven rings,
with the main event, the Acorn Hill 1.40 Speed Challenge, in the Internationale
Arena.
Results
of Class $25,000 WEF CHALLENGE CUP - Nutrena/Western
Hay
T/A:
84.00 T/A: 50.00
1
1234
LORRAIN Z ERIC LAMAZE 0.00 82.84 0.00 39.95 $7500
2
1654
REDEFIN IAN MILLAR 0.00 80.81 0.00 40.08 $5500
SUSAN
GRANGE
3
2991
NEPOMUK CONOR SWAIL 0.00 80.46 0.00 40.49 $3250
CONOR
SWAIL
4
3145
OASIS RODRIGO PESSOA 0.00 80.73 0.00 41.01 $2000
DOUBLE
H FARM
5
3531
ANTHEM LAURA KRAUT 0.00 80.53 0.00 41.03 $1500
6
1221
HICKSTEAD ERIC LAMAZE 0.00 81.08 0.00 41.34 $1250
TORREY
PINES STBLE
7
1243
WHY NOT ERIC LAMAZE 0.00 82.36 0.00 42.54 $1000
DON
EDDIE FARM
8
556
OBOURG LISA JACQUIN 0.00 83.03 0.00 43.19 $750
FLINTWOODE
FARMS
9
1516
AVAILABLE LEVANTOS MARIO DESLAURIERS 0.00 76.43 4.00 42.45 $750
AVAILABLE
JPRS.COM
10
630
ALL STAR DEBBIE STEPHENS 0.00 82.34 4.00 43.46 $500
CENTENNIAL
FARM
11
1226
TEMPETE V/H LINDEHOF ASHLEY FLEISCHHACKER 1.00 84.94 $500
12
1719
YOUP LESLIE HOWARD 4.00 77.26 $500
S'BLIEFT
GROUP
13
3519
LOVE Z NICK SKELTON 4.00 77.36
KINLOCH
ENT.
14
594
COCU MOLLY ASHE 4.00 78.15
JANE
F. CLARK
15
1652
NOBLE 1 JONATHON MILLAR 4.00 78.92
KELLY
SOLEAU
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