For the second straight week, Canadian Olympian Tiffany Foster put on a show at Thunderbird Show Park, dominating the $40,000 VOLVO CANADA Cup 1.45m at the Fort Festival with Artisan Farms’ Brighton.

The Fort Festival is an Equestrian Canada Gold rated show, featuring $75,000 in prize money. Highlights of the week included Friday’s $5,000 U25 1.40m and $5,000 Kubota Welcome 1.45m, along with Sunday’s $40,000 VOLVO CANADA Cup.

Foster and “Brighty” were more than two seconds faster over local course designer Joey Rycroft’s (CAN) shortened track, crossing the finish timers in 41.99 seconds. It was a standard that simply could not be caught; despite jumping first in the order, none of the following eight jump-off competitors could catch the pair. In fact, Foster could not even catch herself, ultimately securing third honours aboard her third jump-off ride, the up-and-coming Northern Light.

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Foster, who grew up competing at tbird, has had a joyous homecoming to Langley since relocating to the venue following the postponement of the global competition calendar in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She also topped both the $5,000 Maui Jim Welcome and the $40,000 ATCO Cup at last week’s Fort Classic.

She’s used the time in her hometown to not only keep her top mounts in form, but to also develop younger prospects. In addition to fellow Artisan Farms entry Northern Light, another young entry, The Hamilton Group’s Hamilton, also advanced to the jump-off, finishing seventh.

“This is fantastic experience for all these horses,” Foster said. “These grand prixs really feel important. It’s exciting. There are good sponsors, and they have the sponsors here watching. [The class] is on CBC and across Canada, so that’s exciting for us. This year, every little thing counts.