Friday evening’s 1.60m Tourmaline Oil Cup was contested by 28 horse and rider combinations in Spruce Meadows’ iconic International Ring, with a large majority struggling to master Venezuelan course designer, Leopoldo Palacios’s technical 16-fence challenge. Just six riders eventually went clear and progressed to the eight-obstacle jump-off, including Beezie Madden, Martin Fuchs, Mario Deslauriers, Max Kuhner, Daniel Bluman, and Kevin Staut.
Current world number six-ranked rider and two-time Olympic team jumping gold medalist, Beezie Madden and her extremely talented 11-year-old chestnut stallion, Darry Lou produced a magical performance in the jump-off going double clear in an unassailable time of 42.81s. The pair – a firm favourite with the animated Calgarian crowd – finished over two seconds ahead of second placed Austrian rider, Max Kühner and his 11-year-old stallion, Alfa Jordan, while the Swiss and current world number two-ranked rider, Martin Fuchs and his 10-year-old grey gelding, Silver Shine claimed third spot.
The educated Spruce Meadows crowd now look forward to Saturday’s BMO Nations’ Cup, which will be contested by 10 nations (Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden, and USA). Then, on Sunday, the highlight of the 2019 CSIO Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ will host some of the world’s best riders and horses, as they compete for the third Major, as part of this year’s Rolex Grand Slam of Show Jumping, the CP ‘International’, presented by Rolex.
Complete results here.
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