Valkenswaard Kicks Off

By Staff Report August 16, 2013

Stal Tops in the Netherlands is the backdrop for the ninth stop on the 2013 Longines Global Champions Tour, Valkenswaard, and we’re adding this private equestrian estate to our list of the most most beautiful in the world. Tops – an Olympic gold medalist and GCT president – founded the International Concours Valkenswaard here 20 years ago, and the GCT marks its eight year at the venue in conjunction with the anniversary.

Total prize money over Aug. 16-18 competition is more than $665,000 (€500,000), with $380,000 of that (€285,000) earmarked for the Aug. 17 Longines Global Champions Tour Grand Prix of The Netherlands, presented by VDL Group.The grand prix is also a qualifier competition for the World Equestrian Games 2014, which a record number of riders are expected on this leg of the tour, including Canada’s Eric Lamaze, who makes his 2013 GCT debut in Valkensaard.

Lamaze got off to a strong start on Friday, Aug. 16, with back-to-back victories in two CSI classes, the 1.35m Young Horse competition (with Check Piccobello Z) and 1.40m class (on Cristalina). The winner of the individual gold medal at the 2008 Olympics will enter the ring for Saturday’s grand prix on his top mount, Powerplay, a 9-year-old Holsteiner gelding purchased in June from Pius Schwizer (SUI).

The duo came in 20th with a clear round and two time faults in Friday’s 1.45m 5* speed class, which Lamaze terms a “confidence building round.” France’s Patrice Delaveau won in 55.15 aboard Quenndal de Loujou HDC, with the USA’s Reed Kessler and her 11-year-old mare Soraya de l’Obstination second in 56.18. The Ukraine’s Katharina Offel won Friday’s 1.50m class riding Pour Le Poussage. She was one of nine double clears in a field of 49 starters.

“This leg of the championship is sure to deliver great sport with a record number of horses and riders,” Valkenswaard show Director Marco Danese said, noting of the series, it’s “a true test for the best riders, as they must compete on sand and grass, day and night and in small and large arenas.”

Convening in Valkenswaard are more than 500 horses from all over the globe – including Qatar, Australia, Colombia, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, Turkey, El Salvador, Brazil. They join the usual suspects from the USA, France, Germany, Sweden and Great Britain. Eight U.S. riders will be stirring the pot for Europe and the rest of the world, among them Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden, Kent Farrington and Richard Spooner.

Following Valkenswaard, Lamaze — who now divides his time between Wellington, FL and Vrasene, Belgium — will return to Canada for the Spruce Meadows Masters tournament, Sept. 4-8. He will ride as a member of the Canadian Team in the $350,000 BMO Nations’ Cup on Saturday, Sept. 7, alongside Tiffany Foster who is also competing at CSI Valkenswaard and placed 12th in Friday’s CSI5* 1.50m competition with Verdi III.  Lamaze is the all-time leading money winner at Spruce Meadows with earnings in excess of $3.7 million at the Calgary venue.

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