The 91st Royal Horse Show officially opened tonight at the Ricoh Coliseum amid fanfare and ceremony, mixing tradition with innovation and excitement.

Caledon, Ontario’s Yann Candele is the three-time defending Canadian Champion. He had the luxury of riding second to last in tonight’s opening round of the Greenhawk Canadian Cup, and he took full advantage of his position in the order to produce a clean, fast round on a horse he has ridden just three times before.

“I was not actually planning on going fast at all, because she is a horse I really don’t know,” explained Candele following the win. “We purchased Showgirl about two weeks ago and she just arrived from Europe. So I was not pushing, but things went well and now we get to go last tomorrow night, which was really the plan.”

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