Lamaze gets Canada off to a great start in Barcelona

By Staff Report September 24, 2011

Olympic champion Eric Lamaze continued his winning streak by claiming the Grand Prix Ciutat de Barcelona Copa SEAT at the 100th edition of CSIO Barcelona. Riding Atlete Van T Heike, Lamaze was the only rider among 45 entries to post two perfect clear rounds. Spain’s Rutherford Latham placed second after making two time faults with Nectar du Plessis, while Brazil’s Carlos Ribas took third with four faults riding Ronaldo. In addition to $16,000 in prize money, Lamaze won a brand new car from Spanish manufacturer SEAT Exeo.

Thousands of spectators filled the stands for the Sept. 23 event. Afer the prize ceremony, in presence of the Major of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, and the President of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Eudaldo Bonet, President of the Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, uncovered a memorial of the Centenary.

The main event at the CSIO Barcelona is the Sunday final for the 2011 FEI Promotional League, results of which will help determine the line-up for the next year’s FEI Nations Cup series. The winning team will earn a place in the 2012 Top League alongside Germany, Great Britain, France, Ireland, The Netherlands and Belgium, who all re-qualified during this season’s eight-nation tournament.

The U.S., which did not fare well enough through the summer Super League competition in Europe to make the A-List, will next year have to slug it out on the Promotional League.After a year’s absence, Switzerland is already assured of a return to the top tier, having claimed the 2011 FEI Promotional League title  by finishing the show series with the highest cumulative score. Their failure to make the Super League this year was likewise a shocker, and the U.S. can only hope to rebound as quickly. Canada did make the Super League cut for 2011, but opted out because the timing was such that the country’s top riders were busy elsewhere during that time period.

Among the seven nations competing to make the cut for the 2012 Super League are the Spanish hosts, who missed out on one of the three Olympic qualifying places available at the FEI European Jumping Championships in Madrid earlier in the month. Adding an extra dimension of excitement for the Spanish contestants is the centennial celebration of CSIO Barcelona which was first staged in 1902.

The Canadians, who have an early morale boost via Lamaze’s win and teammate Chris Pratt’s ninth place showing on Cruise in the grand prix, will also be vying for a slot. Jill Henselwood, and Jenna Thompson round out the team.

Italian Chef d’Equipe, former Swiss jumping star Markus Fuchs, has five riders to choose from, and with Juan Carlos Garcia, Emanuele Gaudiano, Giulia Martinengo Marquet, Luca Marziani and Luca Maria Moneta on call-up, has no shortage of talent and experience available to him either. The Polish team cut their teeth in the Top League last summer and, although their presence was short-lived, they showed dramatic improvement as the season progressed. So team manager Rudiger Wassibauer will be hoping for a good result from Msciwoj Kiecon, Andrzej Lemanski, Antoni Tomaszewski and Lukasz Walilewski on Sunday afternoon.

Russia’s Arseny Shpakovskiy and Tibor P had an unlucky moment on the opening day at Madrid last week when the grey horse misread the final fence and crashed through it.  They otherwise showed plenty of sparkle and, along with Vladimir Beletsky, Olga Chechina and Vladimir Tuganov they can be expected to make their mark this weekend.  One of the biggest threats however may be the side from The Ukraine.  Already qualified for London 2012 through their good performance at Aachen, Germany in July they now have a place in the 2012 FEI Nations Cup™ series in their sights.  Bjorn Nagel, Katherina Offel, Oleksandr Onyshchenko and Cassio Rivetti may well prove tough nuts to crack.  Onyshchenko and Rivetti are listed with two horses previously competed by Ireland’s Cian O’Connor – K Club Lady and Temple Road.

The ones they may all have to beat however are the Swedish team who booked an Olympic berth last week when finishing fifth in the FEI European Jumping Team Championship in Madrid.  They looked rock solid through the course of the week which finished on an even more triumphant note when the super-cool Rolf-Goran Bengtsson also claimed the Individual European title in superb style.  The newly-crowned champion is joined in Barcelona by Svante Johansson, Peder Fredricson, Malin Baryard-Johnsson and Angelica Augustsson.

Eric Lamaze seems to be the show jumping man of the moment, winning everything in sight. His official website iswww.torreypinesstable.com. To follow him on Facebook, go to www.facebook.com/pages/Éric-Lamaze and click “like.”

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