Eric Lamaze and Powerplay.
The Canadian Show Jumping Team has qualified for the final of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Final through their seventh placing in Friday’s preliminary round. The team comprised of Tiffany Foster on Artisan Farms LLC’s Verdi III, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Hors La Loi II X Cantessa), Eric Lamaze on LLC’s Powerplay, a nine-year-old Holstein gelding (Casall X Perlmutt), Mac Cone on Chadburn Holdings Inc.’s Amor Van De Rostal, a 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Peter Pan X Orsina) and Jonathan Asselin on Attaché Stables’ Showgirl, a 13-year-old Selle Francaise mare (Gold De Becourt X Vedette Normande) finished 7th on a nine-fault score.
Tiffany Foster and Verdi III.
Lamaze was the deciding factor in the qualification for Canada. In the new Furusiyya format, eight teams out of 18 qualify for Sunday’s final based on results in a preliminary competition held on Thursday. Canada had drawn 18th and last to go in the preliminary round, which proved to be advantageous. Foster lead off the Canadian team, delivering a clear round under the very tight 81 second time allowed. Cone and Asselin garnered nine faults each. The triple combination of red vertical, oxer, vertical at fence 11 was lowered by many – Cone and Asselin included. In addition, Cone had the Sagrada Familia 1.60m vertical down, and Asselin had a blue oxer on a roll back turn.
Jonathan Asselin and Showgirl.
Lamaze, as the last rider and anchor member of the Canadian team, was faced with considerable pressure when he entered the ring on Powerplay. A clear round from Lamaze would leave Canada on nine faults, tied with the United States and Ukraine for the bottom two qualification spots. In the event of a tie, the deciding factor would be the combined time of the team’s counting scores. Lamaze had his work cut out for him, on what he said was “not a particularly fast horse” in Powerplay. “I had a job to do, I put a bit of pressure on him in the warmup to sort of make him understand the importance of it and he reacted like a very good horse.”
Mac Cone and Amor Van De Rostal.
The team is without Canadian team mainstay Ian Millar due to a minor injury to Dixon. Lamaze spoke of Captain Canada’s absence, “We very much miss Ian Millar not being here and we rallied up and managed to get into the second round.”
The team will compete for the prestige of being the first nation to be inscribed into the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup history books, as well as a generous prize fund of 1,500,000 Euros. In addition, Foster and Lamaze will share a fund of 200,000 Euros for achieving a clear round in Friday or Sunday’s competition.
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