As Canada’s Olympic show jumping team selection enters the final stretch, Eric Lamaze won what might be the toughest test on Canada’s road to the Beijing Games. In cool, windy conditions, in a torrential downpour, Lamaze came up the victor in the $200,000 grand prix at the Spruce Meadows National tournament.
Facing competitors from six nations, including his fellow Canadian Olympic hopefuls, Lamaze and his great stallion, Hickstead, had nothing left to prove to earn their berth on the Canadian team. Still, they were one of only six out of forty-four entries to negotiate the first round faultlessly. The great partnership then left the others far behind in the tie-breaker against the clock. Lamaze and Hickstead stopped the clock at 50.087 seconds with no faults. Mexican team veteran Jaime Azcarraga on Presley Boy settled for second, faultless in 51.407. Azcarraga was one of eleven Mexican competitors today, as Mexico is also using this tournament for Olympic selection.
Asked about the ease with which Hickstead handled the wet and windy conditions, Lamaze said, “He’s very reliable. I don’t know if it’s possible, but he feels like he’s getting better.” With the Olympics drawing close, there is no better time for his already accomplished mount to get better.
Today’s conditions took a minor toll on other Canadian Olympic candidates towards today’s result, but there was no shift among Canada’s team front-runners. The Olympic team selection committee now expects to name the team on June 16th, ahead of the original target date of June 30. Jill Henselwood, of Oxford Mills, Ontario, and Ian Millar, of Perth, Ontario also appear to have a lock on berths. There is a tight race for the fourth and alternate positions.
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