Ottawa, ON - Canadian Olympic Champion, Eric Lamaze, added an historic title to his long list of accomplishments on Dec. 9, 2016 after becoming the first Canadian to claim the prestigious Rolex International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC) Top Ten Final at the CHI Geneva in Switzerland.
Riding his bronze medal partner from the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Fine Lady 5 (Forsyth x Drosselklang II), a 13-year-old Hanoverian mare owned by Artisan Farms, Lamaze went head-to-head as part of the top 10 jumping riders in the world invited to battle for top honours and €300,000 in prize money.
After laying down the fastest clear in the opening round, Lamaze and Fine Lady 5 had the advantage of being the last to contest the jump-off round, which was set up to be a true nail-biter after Christian Ahlmann of Germany (currently ranked number one in the world) guided Taloubet Z to a clear performance in a lightning-fast time of 43.05 seconds. However, Lamaze and Fine Lady 5 rose to the occasion, putting their renowned speed and agility on display to cross the timers in 42.56 seconds for the win. Ahlmann settled for second, while Steve Guerdat of Switzerland earned third place aboard Corbinian on a time of 44.30 seconds.
"Winning the Rolex Top Ten is the highlight of any rider's career; this means a lot to me," said Lamaze, who also has gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals to his name.
"Once we all saw Christian go in the jump-off, I thought maybe the competition was over - he is a very fast rider with a very fast horse," explained Lamaze, who is the only Canadian to date that has competed in the Rolex IJRC Top Ten Final, with 2016 marking his fifth appearance. "Fine Lady is naturally really fast, but I knew that you didn't really have any option, you have to try everything that you could."
Lamaze continued by praising Fine Lady 5, who was the only horse at the Rio 2016 Olympics to complete five consecutive clear rounds of individual competition. "What a horse. From the Olympics to winning the Top 10, I could not ask for more."
For more information and full results from CHI Geneva, visit www.chi-geneve.ch.
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