At the eleventh hour, more than four months after she first filed a protest against Jacqueline Brooks competing in the Dressage World Cup Canadian League Final, Evi Strasser won her case.

Binding arbitration was handed down by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) on March 21st, overturning Equine Canada’s previous decision in favour of Brooks. At the 2006 Royal Winter Fair, Brooks and Gran Gesto brought down the house with their dynamic freestyle in this last League final at the Royal, leaving Strasser in second for a third consecutive year; but this time there was a twist to the plot. One of the qualification criteria for the 2006 League Final was participation in two Canadian CDIs in the same calendar year. Just weeks before the Royal, Strasser filed a protest with Dressage Canada against Brooks’ participation. Gran Gesto had not been ridden in a Canadian CDI in 2006, due in part to the fact that the WEG selection trials – at two CDIs in Ottawa and Blainville – were canceled, since there were only four qualified riders anyway.

The protest was handed over to Equine Canada because the Dressage Canada board determined that there was too much potential conflict if they were to try and resolve it from within (Strasser is the rider representative on the DC board, for example).

It was three months before a hearing panel was appointed by EC, reviewed the facts, and decided in favour of Brooks. Strasser appealed the result, but an appeal panel concluded that the original ruling was correct. Strasser successfully pursued her case with Canada’s alternative dispute resolution tribunal, within SDRCC. Brooks’ disqualification by SDRCC’s decision means that Strasser is now declared the Canadian League winner and Canada’s representative for the 2007 World Cup Final.

Just when Brooks had resigned herself to the decision, the FEI delivered the news that she would receive one of this year’s wild card slots for the Final. In Brooks’ own words, it’s a “happy ending”. For a second time in Las Vegas, Canada (a country that has had its own League status canceled by the FEI for future World Cup Finals) will have two representatives in the dressage. ~ Karen Robinson

 

 

More from Horse Sport: