Todd Minikus believes a special riding stick had something to do with his $49,756 World Cup Grand Prix win at the Royal Winter Fair. “I had a treasured red stick that was made for me by Angel Gonzalez Jr. It got chewed up, so he taped it up and made it black. Then it was stolen,” said Minikus.

Following the loss of his stick, while he was carrying other sticks, Minikus had a string of bad luck, such as a fall at the Hampton Classic (N.Y.) and bad luck at the Pennsylvania National.

Gonzalez took a break from the California race track scene to come to the Royal, Nov. 5-14 in Toronto, Ont., and make sticks for the Running Fox tack booth. Todd jumped atthe chance to get a new stick from Gonzalez, a black one this time.

“He made me this new stick for tonight,” said a smiling Minikus after the World Cup class.

Minikus’ win came over a field of international competitors, including several of Athens’ top horses and riders. Irish rider Kevin Babington was back for the second year in a row with Carling King, with whom he finished fifth in Athens. Nick Skelton of Great Britain brought Arko III, as well as the 9-year-old stallion Russell. McLain Ward had his Olympic mount Sapphire, as well as Goldika.

Leopoldo Palacios designed technically tough courses that yielded few clear rounds. He was assisted by Puerto Rico’s Hector Loyola and Canadian David Ballard.

CN came on board to sponsor this year’s $49,756 World Cup Grand Prix. Five horses made it to the jump-off, with Margie Engle leading the way. Engle can always be counted on for a breathtaking, go-for-broke performance, and indeed her time of 39.52 seconds was the fastest of the day, but Animagus took three rails in the process.

Then Minikus, in his third visit to the Royal, took all the risks on Flier, going clear and fast in 39.70 seconds, which was good enough for the win.

Michael Whitaker of Great Britain pushed Porto Fino into top gear, hoping to defend his 2003 win in the class, but a knockdown kept him out of the winner’s circle this year.

Jill Henselwood also had a rail with Special Ed and a slightly slower time than Whitaker’s.

Dutch rider Eric van der Vleuten, another regular visitor to the Royal, rode Audi’s Jikke through a relatively careful clear round, choosing to guarantee second place for himself.

Following his win, Minikus said that Flier was indeed aptly named. “He just lives up to his name. There is so much hang time you feel like you are flying.”

Minikus, of Wellington, Fla., took over the ride from Ward a year ago. Flier’s owner, Harry Gill, has been a staunch believer in the horse. “At the Harrisburg [Pennsylvania National] Grand Prix, I took one inside turn, but I didn’t make the line following it. Mr. Gill chewed my thigh a little bit for that,” he said.

Minikus was clearly pleased with the result at the Royal. “It was a world-class field tonight. The course was definitely big and tricky enough. If Leopoldo doesn’t get you in one place he gets you in another,” he said.

Canada has two spots at the 2005 FEI World Cup Final in Las Vegas. Eric Lamaze was the points leader going into the Royal, with Jill Henselwood in second. With Special Ed, Henselwood finished fourth in the World Cup Grand Prix, but Lamaze–who placed 16th–still managed to hold his lead overall. He and Henselwood will be making the trip to the Final next April.

A Dutch Treat

The Ricoh Big Ben Challenge, with its $49,756 in prize money, is the final show jumping event, on Saturday night. Palacios built a triple combination of a triple bar to two verticals. Although that combination in itself didn’t claim many casualties, the following sequence–a big Swedish oxer out of a tight corner, followed by a liverpool and a tight left turn to a square oxer–caught up with more than a couple of horses.

Arko III, who never really found arhythm all week, finally said he’d had enough; stops at the liverpool and then the oxer sent Skelton home early. Ian Millar piloted Promise Me around clear, only to be held back by being over the time limit by 0.02 seconds. Six other rounds were clear and under the time.

Schuyler Riley’s Ilian took a rail to finish sixth. She was followed by van der Vleuten, hungry for a win after his second-placed finish in the World Cup class. With Audi’s Jikke, a smaller horse as well as a careful jumper, van der Vleuten posted a clear round and a winning time of 28.89 seconds.

Whitaker managed to shave half a second off his Dutch rival’s time, but at the cost of a rail. Mac Cone chose to go clear and safe with Melinda, which was good enough for fourth place at the end of the day. He was followed by speed demon Babington and Carling King, who couldn’t make the turns quite as efficiently as van der Vleuten. They finished second on 29.25 seconds after the last to go, Minikus, flew a little too high and slow on Flier and settled for third.

Winning the Big Ben Challenge gave van der Vleuten the points he needed to claim the leading international rider title. “Last year I didn’t have good luck with Audi’s Jikke here. She jumped well, but this year things went very well,” he said.

The 13-year-old mare by Concorde has won two out of her last three grand prix classes (and was second in the one she didn’t win). Van der Vleuten has ridden Concorde himself, as well as several of his offspring. He likes the bloodline, though he admits that it takes time to help them develop the confidence to be really successful. He has been riding Audi’s Jikke for seven years.

“The only way is to start with young horses. You can’t afford them otherwise,” said the Dutch rider, who now has set his sights on qualifying for the World Cup Final.

Millar Scores Ninth Canadian Title

The Friday night $41,459 Weston Canadian Open was a single round speed class that brought out the same field of riders from Wednesday’s World Cup. Ward put the pedal to the metal on Goldika, to win on 50.8 seconds, almost 11³2 seconds ahead of second-placed Philippe Rozier of France on Heritiere d’Adrier. Rozier was the third rider on course, and his time stood until Ward came in second-last. Whitaker and Porto Fino edged out Engle and Animagus by 0.11 seconds for third place.

The Royal Winter Fair just wouldn’t be the same without perennial crowd favorite Ian Millar–also known affectionately as Captain Canada. Millar was honored at the Royal this year by Jump Canada for his record eighth Olympic appearance in Athens.

Millar’s Olympic partner was Promise Me, but Millar rode In Style, a talented, 9-year-old, Holsteiner gelding owned by Susan Grange, in the three-round Canadian Championships. Incurring just 2 penalties overall, Millar won the Canadian title for the ninth time.

“It creates a unique pressure,” said Millar. “Not only is the Canadian Championship title on the line, but the standings also determine who qualifies for the international division next week at the Royal.”

Second behind Millar was neophyte Kim Farlinger who, at just 20 years of age, was the youngest rider in the international division with Del Destino.

Cone and Melinda finished close behind in third. While they didn’t actually win any classes, the pair’s consistent placings gave Cone the leading Canadian rider title; Melinda was the leading Canadian horse. Following the award ceremonies on the final night, Cone said,

“We’ve been having ups and downs this season. This was what I’ve been waiting for all year.”

Careening Carriages

Four-in-hand carriage racing has been a part of the Royal’s evening line-up for five years. A World Cup FEI event since 2001, the carriage derby combines marathon and cones obstacles in the tight indoor environment, and the result is a rousing event. Loud music blares, the audience is encouraged to make noise for their favorite team, and the drivers wear headsets so that their commands to the horses are heard at top volume on the sound system.

Returning this year to compete in the derby, which has four rounds over the same number of evenings, were Chester Weber and Bill Long from the United States and crowd favorite Michael Freund from Germany. Jimmy Fairclough joined the fray for the first time this year.

Long took the overall win, much to the excitement of the largely Canadian audience; Long is originally from Ottawa, Ont.
Weber was second with his handsome bays. Freund, with a borrowed team, was not having the easiest time with his lead horses, and he finished third.

Winners and losers are secondary in the carriage derby, however. The licentious mood is heightened by the antics of the drivers, with Weber calling Freund the sauerkraut kid and Freund racing around the stadium getting the crowd to try and outpace him in a wave.