The Canadian Show Jumping Team consisting of Ben Asselin (Calgary, AB) riding Attaché Stables’ Makavoy, a 10-year-old Selle Francaise mare, Angela Covert (St. Lazare, QC) riding Eastwood Group’s Utan, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, Kelly Koss-Brix (Calgary, AB) and Linda Southern-Heathcott’s Chalocorada, an 11-year-old Holstein mare and Chris Sorensen (Caledon, ON) riding Britland Hughes and Christian Sorensen’s Bobby, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding, finished 5th on their combined team score in Canada’s début at the CSIO4*-W Best Jump 2013 held in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Finishing in first place was Brazil, with Venezuela collecting second place honors and USA and Argentina tying for third place.
In round one, lead off rider, Asselin and Makavoy took a single rail earning four faults over Guilherme Jorge’s 1.50m course that saw 12 obstacles with 15 jumping efforts. Their second round proved to be the fastest track of the day but their second rail saw the pair finish with a total of eight faults.
Sorensen and Bobby finished on 17 faults total for both rounds, 12 faults in round one and improving to 5 faults in round two. While Covert and her horse Utan; the last Canadian athletes into the ring, finished on 13 faults after piloting one of only two clear performances in round one. Koss-Brix had a rough go in her first appearance on the Canadian Show Jumping team closing out her tour with 13 and 16 faults respectively.
“We had a tough day at the office today in Brazil; sometimes you have to take your lumps in order to improve. There were some positive moments, Ben Asselin was very consistent as our lead off rider with two four fault rounds, and Angela Covert had a beautiful clean round in the anchor position to keep us in the game after the first round,” commented Chef d’Equipe, Mark Laskin. “Even though it wasn’t the result we were looking for, the experience for our developing riders will be extremely beneficial in the future.”
The Brazilian Team was supported by Chef d’Equipe, Mark Laskin, Team Manager, Karen Hendry-Ouellette, Team Veterinarian, Dr. Sylvie Surprenant and Stable Manager, Darren Roberts.
The Brazilian show jumping tour was made possible through Sport Canada’s ‘Own the Podium’ program, a national sport technical initiative designed to help Canada’s summer and winter athletes achieve podium success at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
For complete results for CSIO 4*-W Best Jump 2013 click here.
A Nations Cup is the only competition in show jumping where riders, competing in teams of four, compete against other countries for top honours. The top three scores from each team are counted towards the final result of the two-round competition.
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