hrills and spills abounded in the $64,554 CN Grand Prix CSI-W at the Royal Winter Fair, and when the dust cleared in Toronto, Ont., on Nov. 3-12, McLain Ward and Goldika 559 emerged as the winners for the second consecutive year.

Course designer Michel Vaillancourt was among the surprised when 10 of the 24 first-round starters went clear. “I thought the course was going to ride a little harder than that. I had such a strong field, but I also didn’t have the numbers. If I had the same strength but with 35 starters, then I could crank it up even a notch higher,” Vaillancourt said.

“The jump-off turned out to be fantastic,” he said. “It was another event by itself. And for good sport you might as well have a few extra rather than not enough.”

The excitement started well before the jump-off, however. The high percentage of clear rounds was counter-balanced by some spectacularly bad ones. Nick Skelton’s scopey gray stallion Russell made a last-minute calculation that he could not get over the Ariat fence in one piece, sending his rider over the first rail of the oxer without him.

A few rounds later, Laurie Bucci’s round came to a crashing end when Quidam’s Ramiro tried to negotiate the third fence from an impossible take-off point, plowing through and falling hard on the landing side. Both horse and rider limped from the ring with shocked expressions on their faces.

Tina Lund, who had herself survived a horrific wreck at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament (N.Y.) the week before with just a concussion, didn’t seem to have completely recovered her confidence. Carola stopped at the first element of the triple combination, and although the Danish rider got through the line on second try she opted to retire after a few more fences, several of which had come down.

Of the clear first rounds, Ward’s was one of the fastest; he looked almost as if he were riding in the jump-off already.

Georgina Bloomberg was first to go in the jump-off, and when she added a time penalty to her eight-fault round, it became clear that Vaillancourt had decided to keep the time tight in the jump-off.

“I made the time a little bit short, and after the first horse I didn’t change it; especially with 10 in the jump-off I wanted to keep the pressure on. I didn’t want a slow clear round to be rewarded,” he said.

A young Canadian rider, Hyde Moffat, had a fall at the same fence that had separated Skelton and Russell. Moffat’s horse Ting Tin gave everyone a terrifying few moments as he trotted around the ring on three legs; by the time the pair left the stadium, the horse had recovered somewhat and was bearing weight on the leg.

With his trademark efficiency and Goldika’s catlike style, Ward crossed the finish in 36.51 seconds, setting the standard for the remaining six competitors. Jill Henselwood came close with Special Ed in 36.78 seconds. Ian Millar and In Style beat the time by more than a second, stopping the timers at 35.25 seconds. Unfortunately, as he bore down on the final fence at the end of a long gallop, the crowd got excited and noisy, distracting the horse.

The rail came down, and Ward enjoyed his fourth CN World Cup victory at the Royal. “Goldika’s a very fast, experienced horse,” he said. “She was great to me. I really thought Ian was going to pull it off.”


Canadians Win Big
For the first time in some years, Canadian show jumpers topped most of the big-money classes at the Royal Winter Fair. This year’s field was a strong one, with 2004 Olympic gold medalist Rodrigo Pessoa headlining the imports from overseas, and 2006 World Equestrian Games team silver medalists Ward, Beezie Madden, Laura Kraut and Margie Engle returning to what has become a regular engagement on their November calendars.

The Canadians had the usual suspects on hand, with Captain Canada Ian Millar getting the lion’s share of crowd support, though not always at opportune moments. And while Ward and Goldika won the biggest money class, much of the prize money at this Royal Winter Fair remained north of the border.

The first weekend of the Royal is an important one for Canadian show jumpers, with the Canadian Championships, the Kubota Cup Series Final (which joined the Royal lineup in 2005), and Canada’s younger stars looking for qualifying points to get into the international ring on week two.

Mario Deslauriers and Naomi topped the first round of the Canadian Championships, but the victory didn’t carry through to the second round the next afternoon.

Coming from behind after a sixth-placed finish on Day 1 was Laurie Bucci, 34, of St. Hilaire, Que., on Quidam’s Ramiro. With one of the only two double clear rounds on Day 2, she surpassed the veterans, as well as her own expectations. “I was hoping to do well, but when you have Mario and Ian following you into the ring, you think there is no way it could happen,” she said.

Henselwood and Special Ed had the only other double clear round, finishing second.

The second annual Kubota Cup Final saw the top 20 finalists from the eastern and western divisions compete. John Pearce, eastern division champion, became the overall winner on Archie Bunker. Pearce was a sponsor’s dream as winner, saying that he uses Kubota equipment at his farm in Stouffville, Ont.


Finishing With Flair
While Deslauriers had to watch the win slip away in the Canadian Championships, he wasn’t going to be outdone in the final class of this year’s Royal Winter Fair. Deslauriers, who had to watch the WEG from the sidelines as Canada’s reserve team member, enjoyed wrapping up a season filled with ups and downs by winning the $51,643 Ricoh Big Ben Challenge on Paradigm.

“It feels great to finish the week on a good note,” he said after going last in the jump-off and nosing ahead of last year’s winners Laura Kraut and Anthem. “I was not quite fast enough tonight,” Kraut said. “Going early definitely hurt me. Last year when I won it, I went last.”

Ian Millar’s third-placed finish helped him become the show’s leading Canadian rider and In Style, owned by Susan Grange, was the leading horse. Michael Whitaker was fourth with Portofino, and he captured the leading international rider title.

Following Ward’s victory in the World Cup class, the Maple Leaf took over top spot in the international ring. In the National Steel Car Four Bar Challenge, John Pearce and Urioso shared the win with Michael Whitaker and Insultech Up To Date, both horses having ended their climb just shy of 6’7″.

The Weston Canadian Open, a 1.50-meter speed class, gave Millar the redemption he was looking for after his World Cup loss to Ward. In Style was impeccable, and though Goldika and several others were faster, it was they who took a rail this time around.

“Michel’s designs are like a fine wine,” said Millar. “Every course this week was on the money.”

Finishing second was Eryn Ballard–whose father David has been a past course designer at the Royal–with Rio’s Rhapsody.

A bright future in the jumper ring could be in store for this year’s winner of both the Jump Canada and CET Medal Finals, 15-year-old Sarah Johnstone of Aurora, Ont. Riding Jinjoven, a 9-year-old Polish Warmblood owned by Barbara Mitton and Kimerley Lewtas, she improved on her second-placed finish from last year in the Jump Canada final.

Even more impressive for such a young rider was winning the CET Medal Final, in her first year contesting the class. Her mount for the CET Final, Landor, is an 11-year-old Westphalian gelding owned by Northridge and Uplands Farm.

Johnstone came very much from behind in the second round of the CET Final, having finished only eighth out of 12 riders in the flat and gymnastics phase. But a nearly flawless show jumping round in phase two was rewarded with a score of 90, which put Johnstone into the top four and the ride-off, where she prevailed for the win.


Extra-Curricular Excitement
In the tradition of providing varied entertainment to its audiences, the Royal introduced a new feature to the usual array of carriage racing and canine challenges. Indoor eventing has already begun to appear regularly in Europe, but it made its North American debut in Toronto.

Six of Canada’s top event riders jumped two rounds on consecutive nights, with combined scores for overall results. David O’Connor designed the course, which included six show jumps and six portable cross-country fences in the indoor ring.

The atmosphere of the competition was similar to that of indoor carriage racing, with speeds that had more than a few knowledgeable spectators gasping and clutching their throats. It all came off without a hitch, however. And in the end, the youngest entrant prevailed. Waylon Roberts, 18, has grown up watching his father, event rider Ian Roberts, represent Canada, and he proved he’s ready to do the same.

“The Royal is taking it up a level by including eventing,” said Waylon, who was riding a relatively new partner, Slingshot. “Now we have all the disciplines!”

Roberts proved his versatility and style by also finishing sixth in the Jump Canada Medal Finals and fifth in the CET Medal Finals on Chako 2.


Canadian Show Jumping Hall Of Fame Debuts
As the international riders and horses arrived for the second week of competition at the Royal Winter Fair, Jump Canada honored some of its top human and equine athletes of the past with a gala dinner and the launching of its Hall of Fame.

Among the inaugural inductees were Ian Millar’s legendary horse Big Ben and the gold-medal team from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics–James Day on Canadian Club, James Elder on The Immigrant, and Tom Gayford on Big Dee. 1986 World Champion Gail Greenough, the show hunter Just Cruising, the pony hunter Farnley Sonya, sponsor BMO Financial Group and builder Brigadier General W. Denis Whitaker were also inducted.

Additionally, the Royal Winter Fair was itself inducted, in recognition of more than 80 years as a mainstay of the Canadian show circuit; it remains one of the most important show jumping events in North America.


Karen Robinson