The Canadian Show Jumping Team earned a fifth place finish in the FEI Furusiyya Nations’ Cup, held Aug. 27, 2016 at the CSIO 5* Gijon in Spain.
Competing for Canada were Kara Chad of Calgary, AB, Elizabeth Gingras of Edmonton, AB, Vanessa Mannix of Calgary, AB, and Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, ON.
The nations’ cup, which was held as the final leg of the Furusiyya FEI Nations’ Cup Jumping Series for 2016, saw a total of 12 teams go head-to-head over two rounds. The courses featured 12 obstacles and 15 jumping efforts set by FEI 4* course designer, Avelino Rodriguez-Miravalles of Spain.
First to contest round one for Canada was Gingras, 34, who started off strong by putting a zero on the board with Zilversprings (Silverstone x Emilion), a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by B. Gingras Equestrian Ltd.
Mannix, 27, was next in, marking her senior nations’ cup debut for Canada. Paired with Grand Cru vd Vijf Eiken (Contact vd Heffinck x Heartbreaker), her 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion, she had just one rail for four faults at the ‘a’ element of fence 12, a double combination that marked the end of the course.
Third in the Canadian lineup was Chad, who travelled to Gijon straight from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, where she was the traveling reserve for Canada. At 20 years old, she was the youngest of the 47 competitors in the nations’ cup. Riding Gin Tonic vd Haagakkers (Indorado x Saros van T Gestelhof), a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by Lutta Gian-Battista, Chad had a foot in the water jump and three rails for 16 faults.
Anchoring the team was Lamaze, 48, who headed to Gijon fresh off his individual bronze medal performance at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, which brought his total medal count to three and gave him the Canadian record for most Olympic medals in equestrian sport. Partnered with Check Picobello Z (Cardento 933 x Orlando), a 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding owned by Artisan Farms LLC and Torrey Pines Stable, Lamaze had a rail at both the triple and double combinations on course for eight faults.
This brought Canada’s tally to 12 faults after applying a drop score at the end of round one, securing the team’s berth as one of the top eight teams to move forward to round two.
Once again, Gingras and Zilversprings were the first to return for Canada and laid down another foot-perfect round, adding no faults to Canada’s score. Mannix and Grand Cru vd Vijf Eiken had two early rails in round two for eight faults. Chad returned to improve on her performance with Gin Tonic vd Haagakkers, incurring eight jumping faults. Lamaze was working on a clear until the very last fence, when the tall plank vertical at 12a, which proved to be the ‘bogey’ fence of the day, came down for four faults.
Canada finished the day on a team total of 24 faults for fifth place. Great Britain took top honours on a score of 16. Spain thrilled the hometown crowd with a second place finish on 17 faults, and The Netherlands earned third on 20 faults.
The Canadian Show Jumping Team was supported at the CSIO 5* Gijon by Chef d’Équipe, Bob Henselwood.
For complete results from the CSIO 5* Gijon, visit www.csiogijon.com. More information on the Furusiyya FEI Nations’ Cup Series can be found at www.fei.org.
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