Equestrian Canada Equestre, www.equestrian.ca Photo Spruce Meadows Media / Mike Sturk
Canada Wins BMO Nations’ Cup at Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’
The Canadian Show Jumping Team presented as the winners of the $600,000 BMO Nations’ Cup by Scott Brison, Vice-Chair, BMO Capital Markets (right). Left to right: Erynn Ballard and Jack van’t Kattenheye, Amy Millar and Truman, Tiffany Foster and Northern Light, and Eric Lamaze and Fine Lady 5, with chef d’equipe Mark Laskin.
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he Canadian Show Jumping Team won the $600,000 BMO Nations’ Cup held Saturday, September 11, at the CSIO5* Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ tournament in Calgary AB, for the third time in the event’s history. Erynn Ballard, Tiffany Foster, Eric Lamaze, and Amy Millar led Canada to the win over four other teams. With travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 global pandemic compounded by the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics and European Championships taking place weeks before this year’s Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ tournament, the starting field was diminished in numbers but not in thrilling sport. Canada, Ireland, Mexico, and the United States were all invited to put forward a second team with only Canada taking advantage of the opportunity. However, it was Canada’s top team that secured the victory with a two-round total of eight faults over the United States with 15 faults. The Canada 2 team placed a close third with 16 faults while Mexico took fourth with 32 faults. Ireland rounded out the top five with 44 faults. At the end of the opening round, Canada 1 sat at the top of the leaderboard with a single time fault. The horses and riders carried their form into the second round and, after the first three riders had jumped, there was no need for anchor rider Lamaze to return as Canada 1 had the win sewn up. Having claimed victory in the richest Nations’ Cup team event held in North America in 2006 and 2014, Canada can now add a third win in the event that’s been held since 1977 to its record. “It’s a simple formula; you get good riders, good horses, and good people,” smiled Mark Laskin, chef d’equipe of the Canadian Show Jumping Team. “Nations’ Cups are hard. It has to be your day, but it also has to not be the other teams’ day. I was quite confident, but you just never know. So much has to come together. When it works, there is no 34 • NOVEMBER 2021
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sweeter feeling. And it’s the most fun to win at Spruce Meadows. It’s home.” Speaking to the unusual circumstance of being invited to enter two teams, Laskin said, “We felt we could put together two competitive teams, so we jumped at the opportunity. It’s hard to get invitations to jump in a Nations’ Cup, even at the three-star level. We showed we do have depth as our second team was one fault away from being second.” The Canada 2 team put forth a strong effort with Mario Deslauriers, 56, of New York NY, posting scores of zero and four riding Uris de la Roque, a 13-year-old Selle Français gelding (Capital x Quick Star) that he owns in partnership with Aram Ampagoumian LLC. Brian Morton, 35, and now based in Calgary AB, provided the drop score for both rounds after posting 17 and 15 faults respectively with Cadillac, an 11-year-old Hanoverian gelding (Corlensky G x El Bundy) owned by Spruce Meadows Ltd. Samantha Buirs-Darvill, 34, of Langley BC, impressed by jumping clear, albeit with time faults in both rounds aboard Baton Rouge, her 10-year-old Canadian-bred Oldenburg gelding (Banderas x Karandasj). Baton Rouge’s dam, Total Touch, is the horse Buirs-Darvill rode in her last Nations’ Cup appearance for Canada in 2010 in Buenos Aires ARG. Riding in the anchor position, Ben Asselin, 27, of Calgary AB, posted scores of five and four faults respectively with The Freshman, an 11-yearold Dutch Warmblood gelding (Namelus R x Chin Chin) owned by Spruce Meadows Ltd. and Asselin’s grandmother and Spruce Meadows cofounder, Margaret Southern. Competition concluded at the CSIO5* Spruce Meadows ‘Masters’ tournament on September 12, with the $2.5 million CP International, presented by Rolex. For more information, visit sprucemeadows.com.