Ian Millar made his debut as the newly appointed Canadian chef d’equipe a winning one Saturday in the $150,000 FEI Jumping Nations Cup Wellington CSIO4* (Florida), while a relatively inexperienced U.S. squad had to settle for fifth place.

“If you’re not nervous, you don’t care enough,” said Millar, a 10-time Olympian who at 76, having represented his country in competition for the best part of half a century, took on his new role last month. “I was nervous, and I care a lot.”

Canada produced three clears in the final round of competition to take the top podium spot. Brazil finished second and Ireland was third among the 11 nations who competed.

Canadian team riders Mario Deslauriers (left) and Erynn Ballard share a laugh with new Canadian chef d’equipe Ian Millar during the course walk for the $150,000 FEI Nations Cup Wellington CSIO4* (Fla.). Sportfot Photo

Of the eight teams that advanced to the second round of competition—Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico and the U.S.—the eventual top three were tied on 8 faults each before revisiting the course designed by Anthony D’Ambrosio.

Tiffany Foster, Erynn Ballard and Mario Deslauriers stacked up three clears for Canada to seal their win. Deslauriers, aboard a horse making his Nations Cup debut, was the only rider in the competition to jump clean in both rounds.

“He’s jumped some bigger tracks at Spruce [Meadows] on the field, so he was very capable,” Deslauriers said of Emerson, an 11-year-old Belgian Warmblood (Eldorado VD Zeshoek—Iana Van D’Abelendreef, Berlin) owned by Wishing Well Farm LLC. “I had high expectations so it’s a huge relief. I must thank my teammates and our chef d’équipe for a great night. Everybody rode well and it was a great win for us.”

Watch their winning round, courtesy of Wellington International:

The selection process for the Canadian team had been short and decisive according to Millar.

“I work with a committee, and we looked at the declared athletes together,” he said. “Within a couple of minutes, it was unanimous. It’s a great group of riders; I’ve ridden with all of them, and I know how good they are.”

‘A Lot Of Hope’ For Canada Under Millar

“This Nations Cup almost feels like a home Nations Cup for us because it’s on North American soil and we have so many Canadians here in the wintertime,” Foster said, commenting on Canada’s boisterous cheering section. “I think we had an extra big turn out tonight because there has been a lot of expectation, a lot of hope, a lot of excitement around having Ian Millar as our chef d’equipe.”

Foster and Hamilton, 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding (Quadros 3—Zerlina 1, Acolord) part-owned by U.S. Olympian Kent Farrington, had a careful, faultless round.

“Hamilton is a wonderful, amazing horse,” Foster said. “I’ve had him since he was 8 years old He was a little bit green when we got him, so it’s been a process of getting to know him. Now I feel that he is mature and a reliable partner and a reliable teammate.”

Farrington, she added, “has been very helpful and has been a big part of his development.”

Ballard also saw her Nations Cup performance as proof of progress with her 2022 ECCO FEI World Championships partner Gakhir, a 12-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding (Spartacus TN—Zakhira, Labor’s VDL Indorado) owned by Esperanza Imports LLC and Ilan Ferder.

“This is my third year jumping him in this class, and this was the first time that I really felt we were going to contribute to the team’s score,” she said.  “He has proved that he keeps getting better and better. I think it’s his blood and ability to keep going round after round that has helped us be so consistent.”

Saturday’s Nations Cup win sets the confidence bar high for Canada, coinciding with Millar’s new role.

“We really wanted to start the season with a win for our new chef. That was very important to us,” said Beth Underhill, who like Ballard rode her 2022 world championships partner, Nikka VD Bisschop, in the afternoon’s round.

‘Next Generation’ Gains Experience For U.S.

The NetJets U.S. Jumping Team of Natalie Dean, Mimi Gochman, Mavis Spencer and Adrienne Sterlicht qualified for the second round, though their opening tally of 20 faults proved insurmountable.

“Our plan has been set for months that we were going to use this home Nations Cup, this four-star Nations Cup, for basically our next generation of riders,” U.S. chef Robert Ridland said. “We’ve got a major priority this year in qualifying for [the Paris 2024 Olympics], so the five-stars will have more of the veteran riders. Here it was intentional to have the riders of the future and to give them the experience in the electric environment that exists [at Wellington International]. There’s no question we had the youngest team out there. Those riders all learned something under immense pressure, and I’m very proud of them.”

The NetJets U.S. Jumping Team for the $150,000 FEI Nations Cup Wellington CSIO4* (from left) Mavis Spencer, Natalie Dean, Chef d’Equipe Robert Ridland, Adrienne Sternlicht and Mimi Gochman. Photo Courtesy Of USEF

Dean, riding Marigold Sporthorses LLC’s Acota M, a 10-year-old Oldenburg mare, posted the team’s only clear round to start the day, and came back to lower one rail in the final round.

Gochman, the youngest rider in the field, posted 4 faults in each round aboard her 13-year-old Holsteiner mare Celina BH.

Spencer, riding Georgy Maskrey-Segesman’s 10-year-old Holsteiner gelding Carissimo 25, had 16 faults in the first round and an additional 12 in the final, which was the team’s drop score.

Sternlicht, in her 10th appearance for the team but her first with Faquitol-S, a 13-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Starlight Farms 1 LLC, was the first-round drop score on 17 faults, but came back in the finals to have just a rail.

“Nations Cups are all about the second round,” Ridland said. “The second round never rides quite the same as the first round. It’s a totally different type of pressure that’s required for the riders.

“They really dug down deep in that second round, and to be honest, the three 4-fault rounds were very close to being clean,” he added. “We were just a whisker away from three clean rounds.”

See full results here.