It was a case of the student beating the teacher as Jordan MacPherson of Toronto, ON, beat out Ian Millar to win the $35,000 CSI2* Ram Equestrian Grand Prix held August 3 during the CSI2* Summer Festival at the Caledon Equestrian Park in Palgrave, ON. The Caledon Equestrian Park will host the equestrian events for the 2015 Pan American Games.
Five riders were able to pass the test set by two-time Olympic course designer Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela, successfully negotiating the first round track to advance to the all-deciding jump-off. Canadian Olympian Beth Underhill of Schomberg, ON, just missed the cut after incurring one time fault in the opening round with her entry, Viggo.
Millar, a 10-time Olympian hailing from Perth, ON, led off by guiding his 2012 London Olympic mount Star Power to a second clear round in a time of 36.70 seconds. His early lead would be short-lived, however, as MacPherson followed with Piccobello du Val de Geer, her partner of the past three years. A fast pace and tight turns soon saw MacPherson flying through the timers in 34.50 seconds, slicing more than two full seconds off Millar’s time.