At the end of the busy World Cup qualifying season, the leading Canadians in the North American League jumping standings heading into the FEI World Cup Finals in Paris, France, April 10-15, 2018, were Isabelle Lapierre in the Eastern sub-league (7th place) and Ali Ramsay in the Western sub-league (6th place). Karen Hendry-Ouellette, Manager of Sport-Jumping at Equestrian Canada, stated that both have declined to attend this year’s Final.
Ramsay, 26, had five top-10 placings in WCQs with her 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood mare Hermelien VD Hooghoeve on which she has been competing in Thermal, CA, this winter. “It was really hard to turn down the invitation to the World Cup finals in Paris this year, but we just didn’t feel that it was the right thing for Hermelien and I at this time,” she explained. “We have our goals set for the year and hadn’t planned the proper preparation for such a big indoor championship. She is a very special mare who is the lead horse in my string, and when we make the World Cup Finals our goal next year we will have a plan in place to prepare ourselves to go try and win!”
Lapierre, 39, of Levis, QC, won the World Cup qualifiers at Royal West and Bromont in 2017 on her good mare Cescha M, an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood. She told Horse Sport, “I am not showing Cescha in 2018; she is having time off and will be back in 2019.”
In Dressage World Cup Final news, Canadian Brittany Fraser with All In were 4th on the North American league list with a qualifying score average of 75.750%, but only the top two from the NAL may participate, which was led by Laura Graves and Verdades (84.825%) and Shelly Francis with Danilo (76.937%).
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