Gold Medal Horse Hickstead to compete at Royal Horse Show

Olympic Champion Eric Lamaze wants to celebrate with his hometown fans.

For Immediate Release
October 6, 2008

TORONTO, ON - Canada’s Olympic Champion Eric Lamaze (Schomberg, ON) has decided to add to the frequent-flyer points of his gold-medal stallion Hickstead, by bringing him home from Europe to compete at Toronto’s Royal Horse Show this November. It had previously been announced that while Lamaze would compete in Toronto, Hickstead would remain in Europe, where the pair are currently amassing points en-route to becoming the number-one ranked jumping combination in the world. Fans of Hickstead will now have the opportunity to see him compete live, in his first Ontario appearance since winning the individual gold and team silver medals at the Olympics this summer.

"It will be very exciting to compete with Hickstead at this year's Royal. We received such a warm welcome from the fans at Spruce Meadows in Calgary in September, and are very much looking forward to competing in front of our hometown crowd in Toronto. Hickstead has proven himself to be one of the world's top horses by winning the Olympic gold medal, and we are looking forward to celebrating that achievement at The Royal." said Lamaze.

Hickstead’s passport and European schedule reflects his current cache of being one of the very best right now. Publicist for the pair, Jennifer Ward, says “the current plan for Hickstead is to do an indoor show, probably in Holland or Belgium, and then the CSI***** in Lyon, France, at the end October. He will then fly to Toronto for The Royal, and then back to Belgium for CSI***** at Brussels, which is hosting the Rolex top ten final this year.” Lamaze is currently ranked number two on the Rolex world rankings, chasing down Germany’s Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum.

North America made history at the Olympics with the US taking gold and Canada taking silver in the Team show-jumping competition. Equestrian fans will have an unprecedented opportunity to see members from the both teams competing at this year’s Royal Horse Show during the week of international competition November 11 through 15. In total, over $795,000 in prize money will be awarded in the Horse Show, making it one of the richest indoor equestrian competitions in the world. For more information and complete schedule visit www.royalfair.org.

Contact:
Michelle Dunn
Royal Horse Show Press Office
AIPS / IAEJ
Royal Horse Show
mdunn @ royalfair . org
mobile: 905.464.3056