KatyM., Community News/All Photos: moranequinephoto.com

 

 

Friday Fireworks and Saturday Sunshine

Friday was the Mercedes-Benz Evening of the Horse, and it was a spectacular evening indeed.

Lauren Hough and Blue Angel.

The kick-off class was the $100,000 Encana Cup, won by Lauren Hough and a new ride for her, Blue Angel, a 9 year-old warmblood mare who Hough had recently found competing in England with a young amateur rider. Hough said she had brought the mare along this year and that Blue Angel, owned by Robin Parsky, had really stepped up to the higher levels of competition.

Kamal Bahamdan and Delphi.

Kamal Bahamdan of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had the second best time in the jump-off for second place. He rode Delphi, a 9 year-old NZ Sport Horse mare owned by Saudi Equestrian.

Leopoldo Palacios measures the final fence at 2.05 meters (6'6")

As the sun went down, the action heated up in the $50,000 ATCO Electric Six Bar competition. Great Britain's Tim Stockdale won that class in convincing style by being the only one to clear the final obstacle on course which had reached 2.05 meters 6'6"). Stockdale rode Fresh Direct K2, a very tall 9-year old Belgian Warmblood gelding.

Tim Stockdale and Fresh Direct K2.

Shane Breen and Balloon.

Riding to a tie for second place were Shane Breen of Ireland and Ben Asselin of Canada. Breen was riding Balloon, an 8 year-old Oldenburg stallion. Asselin, who is just 17 years-old himself, was riding Lolita, a 13 year-old Oldenburg mare.

Ben Asselin and Lolita.

Following the competition, the crowd of over 59,000 was treated to a performance of the world famous Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride which is an impressive demonstration of precision riding as the 32 strong horse-rider teams perform complex choreography to music.

RCMP Musical Ride

The Band of the Royal Engineers

Then, the Band of the Royal Engineers performed selections from the sound track of 'Pirates of the Caribbean' in an arrangement to correspond with a dazzling display of fireworks.

The fireworks were fantastic!

On a clear and Saturday's first class, the $80,000 Suncor Winning Round, was won by Canada's Eric Lamaze riding the 9 year-old mare, Coriana van Klapscheut on which he had already won the ATCO Structures and Logistics class on Thursday. To make the results even better for Lamaze, his young student, Kaitlin Zeigler (USA) grabbed the second place ribbon riding 13 year-old Valencia, a Belgian Warmblood mare.

Eric Lamaze and Coriana van Klapscheut.

Kaitlin Zeigler and Valencia.

The big class of the day was the $350,000 BMO Nations Cup which was a hard-fought battle. The team from France, which was handicapped because they had lost one of their members, faced a situation in which each score from the three competing riders had to count. Despite their disadvantage, they managed to pull off the least number of faults and earned the gold medal.

Roger-Yves Bost was the anchor rider for Team France riding Ideal de la Loge.

Team Canada had the only rider in the competition with a double clear over the big, technical course designed by Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela - Eric Lamaze riding the incomparable Hickstead. Each of the other riders on the team was able to contribute to the second lowest team score, earning the silver medal. Team Switzerland had a solid showing taking the bronze medal.

Eric Lamaze and Hickstead had the only double clear performance of the day.