At the eleventh hour, more than four months after she first filed a protest against Jacqueline Brooks competing in the Dressage World Cup Canadian League Final, Evi Strasser won her case.

Binding arbitration was handed down by the Sport Dispute Resolution Centre of Canada (SDRCC) on March 21st, overturning Equine Canada’s previous decision in favour of Brooks. At the 2006 Royal Winter Fair, Brooks and Gran Gesto brought down the house with their dynamic freestyle in this last League final at the Royal, leaving Strasser in second for a third consecutive year; but this time there was a twist to the plot. One of the qualification criteria for the 2006 League Final was participation in two Canadian CDIs in the same calendar year. Just weeks before the Royal, Strasser filed a protest with Dressage Canada against Brooks’ participation. Gran Gesto had not been ridden in a Canadian CDI in 2006, due in part to the fact that the WEG selection trials – at two CDIs in Ottawa and Blainville – were canceled, since there were only four qualified riders anyway.

The protest was handed over to Equine Canada because the Dressage Canada board determined that there was too much potential conflict if they were to try and resolve it from within (Strasser is the rider representative on the DC board, for example).

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