Spruce Meadows Masters – Thursday

you're listening to an article from horse sport.com. spruce meadows masters – thursday. fierce competition continued at spruce meadows today, starting with the akita drilling cup. it was a full entry with 58 horse/rider combinations making their way around the leopoldo palacios (ven) designed course. there were seven who bested the 14 jumping efforts, moving onto the jump-off round. american olympic team gold medalist will simpson was able to use his position of last in the jump-off to his advantage. simpson took care in studying the jump-off course and where he could cut time. the four who had jumped double clear ahead of simpson all finished in the 40 second range, giving simpson little time to make up but the wily veteran was able to find a spot. “i had the advantage of going last after a lot of clear rounds in the second,” said simpson after the akita drilling cup. “i saw the inside turn and took it and came over it beautifully,” explained simpson. advertisement scroll to continue with content that inside turn put the american across the finish line in 39.79 seconds, nearly a second faster than his closest competitor, and fellow american mate ashlee bond. that aggressive path gave simpson a big win early in the week in the akita drilling cup. akita drilling cup top 10 1- will simpson usa black cherry 2- ashlee bond usa gzs cassira z 3- michel robert fra what’s next 4- eric lamaze can take off 5- juan carlos garcia ita moka de mescam 6- beth underhill can top gun 7- marc houtzager ned uppity 8- nicolas pizarro mex jerminal en noir 9- cameron hanley irl vdl rocksina hd 10- janne-friederike meyer ger chika’s way. the final event of the day was cana cup, in which 46 entries took on a leopoldo palacios (ven) test. the course featured 14 jumping efforts over a distance of 500 m and a time allowed of 75 seconds. there were 10 horse/rider combinations that cleared the first round course to move onto the jump-off round. for one rider it was a bit of a late birthday present, jaime azcarraga (mex) turned 50 yesterday and today he rode presley boy to victory. azcarraga wanted this win heading into the weekend after taking some time off. “i didn’t do much competing after the queen elizabeth ii cup, we were both a bit rusty,” said azcarrraga. the rust didn’t show for the pair who has been a team for the past 7 years, they eased around the jump-off course finishing in 38.80 seconds. presley boy will now rest until sunday when they will look to continue the winning streak at the $1 million cn international grand prix. cana cup top 10 1- jaime azcarraga mex presley boy 2- daniel etter sui peu a peu 3- daniel deusser ger aboyeur w 4- morten djupvik nor bessemeind’s casino 5- geir gulliksen nor l’espoir 7 6- roger-yves bost fra ideal de la loge 7- christopher lowe can jackpot t8- antonio chedraui mex don porfirio t8- angelique hoorn ned blauwendraad’s o’brien t8- harrie smolders ned exquis walnut de muze.