Peter_Leone.jpgOttawa, ON—While the current Olympic equestrians were planning strategy for their next show jumping course in Hong Kong, a trio of riders with some Games’ experience between them were facing off a little closer to home.

The jump off in the $40,000 NCSJT Grand Prix included Jay Hayes from Orangeville, Ont., who competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics on his grey bucking stallion Zucarlos, and Americans Leslie Howard and Peter Leone.  Howard won team gold in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and team silver with Leone in 1996 in Atlanta.

Lauren Hunkin, who rode to her first Grand Prix victory in June—and followed it up with her second a week later—was the only other rider in the field of 20 to keep all the fences intact and complete the course in the allotted time of82 seconds. She was also the first rider on course and her careful, controlled round on Larry, a dark brown 10-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Synergy Farm,  made navigating designer Guilherme Jorge’s 13 jumps look achievable, if not easy.

But for the next 13 horses and their riders it was not. The final jump, a wide oxer designed as a wishing well was a curse rather than a blessing for many of them. Then Hayes entered the ring on Livarot, a bay gelding owned by Summer Hill Farm.  The crowd roared their approval at his clean round—it guaranteed a jump off, and because Hayes is the man who brought international show jumping back to the nation’s capital.

Then Howard, riding David Goodwin’s Hip Hop, a 13-year-old Swedish-bred mare, as the penultimate rider rode clear and was followed by Leone, on Candide, a nine-year-old bay stallion, owned by Haphco LLC.

In a jump off, riders enter in their original order, and once again Hunkin negotiated the modified course safely .  Hayes followed with just as much precision but a lot more speed, completing the course in 38.59, 1.07 seconds faster than Hunkin. Howard and Hip Hop danced out of sync, taking down 4 rails for 16 faults. That left Leone to challenge Hayes’ time.

Spectators in the Nepean National Equestrian Park held their breath and as he cleared the final jump every eye swiveled to the timeclock—38.48. Leone was victorious, beating Hayes by less than a tenth of a second.

“I didn’t think that I could beat Jay’s time,” Leone admitted later. “I’ve never run my horse that fast at fences that high, but I did try to stay within his ability. It was Candide’s day.” Haphco is Leone’s company in partnership with Scott Brakebill and is an acronym for Hope and a Prayer Horse Company. “Candide was sired by a great stallion, Voltaire. We named him after what we think is Voltaire’s best work, and Candide truly is a classic jumper and still quite young.”

Special guest Major General Lewis MacKenzie (Ret.) presented Leone with his winnings, $12,000 of the $40,000 total purse. “I can share in the joy and the agony of a tenth-of-a-second win and loss,” said MacKenzie. 

The Grand Prix was the grand finale for the two-week National Capital Show Jumping Tournament, in which top equestrians from across Canada and the U.S. competed for more than $200,000 in prize money. Hayes Co., the family-run business based in Orangeville, Ont., led by Jay Hayes and his wife, horsewoman Shawn Hayes, plans to return with the event in 2009.

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