acqueline Brooks of Mount Albert, Ont., has won the last World Cup League Final that Canada will hold, on Nov. 8-9 at the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto, Ont.

The FEI has restructured North America’s World Cup leagues in line with the Western European league, with two spots available for the top points earners from the continent, regardless of country (USA, Canada or Mexico). Canada and the United States have been the only countries to enjoy guaranteed places in the World Cup Final in recent years, and it comes as a blow particularly to Canada’s dressage elite that it will now be an open contest with the United States.

So Brooks and Gran Gesto, an 11-year-old, Oldenburg gelding owned by Brinc Ltd. and Anne Welch, have won the Canadian League Final for the first time, and as it turns out, the last.

This year’s league final was the smallest in recent history, partly due to new, more rigorous qualification criteria imposed by Dressage Canada. The cancellation of Canada’s World Equestrian Games selection trials complicated matters somewhat, since for some declared riders, the two back-to-back trials at CDIs in Ottawa and Blainville, Que., would have fulfilled the World Cup criteria of competing twice on Canadian soil.

By the time the Royal rolled around this year, there were only three horses entered in the league final. The FEI has rigid rules about the running of sanctioned competitions, so there was no possibility of opening the class to non-qualified horses; three would have to be enough entertainment for the 6,500 spectators that have made the event one of the first to sell out every year at the Royal.

Additionally, a test rider was invited to perform a freestyle–though not to compete–which brought the number of horses to four. This year’s test rider, Cheryl Meisner on the KWPN stallion Paganini, would have made creditable competitors in the league final, but they didn’t declare in time to qualify.


Saving The Best For Last
The ground jury for the league final consisted of: Cara Whitham (Canada), Lorraine MacDonald (Canada), Marian Cunningham (Peru), Katrina Wuest (Germany) and Jessica Ransehousen (U.S.A.). As a whole they were less than enthralled by the performances in the Grand Prix test.

Whitham pointed out that with that test now counting only to determine order of go in the freestyle, and with just three competitors, the pressure was decidedly off. “I’m not putting words in the riders’ mouths, but I think they probably took it easy on the horses in the Grand Prix, giving their horses a chance to relax and get used to the ring and the audience,” Whitham said.

Brooks didn’t dispute the theory. “I think that when you’re in an event like the World Cup Final where the Grand Prix counts to get to the freestyle, then you need to go all out. When you know you are in the top three, you might save some horse for the freestyle,” she said.

Brooks certainly saved plenty; after finishing more than 2 points behind Evi Strasser and Quantum Tyme in the Grand Prix test, she turned the tables completely in the freestyle.

Jon Costin and Wholio were first to go in the freestyle, having placed third in the Grand Prix with a slightly uneven ride. In the freestyle, Wholio pleased the crowds with an on-the-beat passage to “Stayin’ Alive,” but the horse never really settled into the atmosphere of the stadium.

Brooks entered the arena while the judges were still deliberating about Costin’s ride, which gave her a little extra time to connect with the crowd. By the time the bell had rung she had the audience quite excited, clapping along with her warm-up piaffe.

A five-time veteran of the league final, she took the momentum that she had created outside the ring and rode what may have been the freestyle of her life. “It was awesome tonight. And the horse was good. He just got better and better all week. By tonight he just let me hold my hand down and ask him and he said, ‘there you go’,” Brooks said.

One of the highlights of the freestyle, and one for which she was rewarded by the judges, was a top-quality set of one-tempi changes on a 20-meter circle. “With the audience clapping with the ones on the circle, I was scared. But my horse never wavered,” she said.

Brooks’ music is a powerful compilation from the film Alexander, designed by Tamara Williamson of Kurboom. “It works really well for him,” said Brooks. “It starts out really quiet and then victory at the end. I really like that.”


So Close Again
Strasser, who has been close to winning the league final for three years, would once again have to settle for second place. Her 11-year-old Oldenburg, Quantum Tyme, has had a very long show season that started in Florida in January, continued in Europe through the summer and included a best-ever performance in the Grand Prix test at the WEG.

The horse returned to Canada from Germany only three weeks before the Royal, having competed several more times after Aachen. Because of the qualification criteria, Strasser was under the impression that only she and Costin would be competing at the Royal.

“Especially after the World Championships it’s hard to get the ‘peak’ feeling. I thought just two qualified for World Cup, so I had no stress to train the horse harder,” she said.

After an easy win in the Grand Prix, Strasser was somewhat favored to win the freestyle. Riding to a Disney-inspired program that she has used for the past three years, she didn’t demonstrate the same degree of difficulty that Brooks had.

Whitham commented that “Evi’s horse had dynamics but at the same time for me, I found the choreography a little difficult to follow at times. And it was not as challenging as Jacqui’s.” Four out of five judges had Gran Gesto in front.

Brooks was helped along still further by a huge score from Jessica Ransehousen, who stood out from the other judges on several occasions over the two days, but never more so than in the freestyle. Brooks received a whopping 79.25 percent from the U.S. judge, which gave her scores a span of more than 12 percent from highest to lowest.

Looking ahead to 2007, Brooks hopes to balance preparing Gran Gesto for Las Vegas with qualifying her young horse Balmoral for the Canadian Pan American Games team. Winning the Canadian League Final has compensated Brooks for the crushing disappointment of missing the WEG due to a badly timed hoof abscess. “What everyone knows in this sport is that the lows are very low and the highs are very high.

You take the highs when you get them and you live through the lows when you are dealt them. I really wanted to be there at the WEG. But this is fantastic for him [Gran Gesto], showing everyone that he’s fit and ready to go,” she said.


The Quadrille Is Back
After 10 years of absence from the Royal Winter Fair, the Grand Prix dressage quadrille was revived for two performances at this year’s fair.

It came together thanks to the efforts of Canadian Olympian Eva-Maria Pracht, who has designed the choreography for numerous quadrilles, including for the Canadian team in the Cadillac Challenge of the Americas (Fla.). Pracht worked with the 10 riders and horses only a few times in the days leading up to the first performance on Friday night during the show jumping.

A second performance entertained the crowds on Saturday afternoon. Other than a few inevitable behavioral glitches from a horse or two, the performance was a nearly seamless display of horsemanship of a caliber normally seen only in Germany, where Grand Prix quadrille performances are much more common.

With the loss of the Canadian World Cup League Final, the Royal is in a position to consider its options in hosting future dressage competitions and demonstrations. With sell-out crowds for the freestyle and a warm reception to the quadrille, the Canadian dressage community very much hopes the Royal will continue to support dressage as enthusiastically as it has up until now.


Karen Robinson