One of the highlights of Beaulieu’s second week was the $5,000 Belcan 1.20M Speed Derby. Course Designer Dr. Luc Nguyen Trong incorporated several interesting features into his 800 metre course, including solid “portables†from the site’s cross-country course. With the addition of natural knock-down rails, two of these were placed outside the ring, followed by a “chicane†made of rails and standards and a conventional show jump before competitors returned to the main ring to complete the course. Doubles at #3A/B and #18A/B, Liverpool or vertical options at #5 and #6 in a tricky twisting section of the course, plus a bounce fence at #11 completed the 21 efforts that carried a four second penalty for a knock-down.
The only rider to post a sub-100 second time was the winner, Myra Simard, who aced the course on her six-year-old Brazilian warmblood, Gold Rush, in a time of 99.24 seconds. Karen Sparks and Mon Pleasure were close behind at 101.83. Grant Field and Vermeer’s time of 103.35 just pipped sixteen-year-old Alex Loiselle and Decima’s Duracell, in fourth place at 103.90.
Sunday’s 1.45M $25,000 Desjardins Grand Prix resulted in a 1-2-3 sweep for the Millar family. This time, it was Amy Millar’s turn to head the class, at the expense of her brother Jonathan, who settled for second and third places on his two rides, Chianto and Fancy Hill (the winner of the previous weekend’s New Holland Grand Prix). Amy’s win was particularly impressive, since her ride, Dutch warmblood Navarre, is only eight-years-old and was competing in his very first Grand Prix. Both Navarre and second-placed Chianto, an 11-year-old Danish warmblood, are owned by Alison Moore – presently grounded with a broken leg, suffered the week prior to the Pam-Am Trials, but considerably cheered by her two horses’ success.
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