Category: Canadian Premier/MLSJ Vancouver

A top Canadian female rider led another victory gallop at Thunderbird Sunday afternoon, to close out the MLSJ Canadian Premier Week for 2023. 

Former leading female rider in the world, Erynn Ballard piloted Game Over with precision and tact to a double-clear, shaving 0.09 of a second off Conor Swail’s time to cross the finish in 38.70 seconds — a time that would hold up for the remainder of the class.  

A new partnership coming into Ilan Ferder’s sales stable, Ballard has competed Game Over less than a half-dozen times. She’s the first to admit sometimes horses just come into your life and there is an instant connection.

“Some of these horses appear in my life and it was like an instant match,” says Ballard. “I feel like this horse can make me fly. I believe so much in him. And he goes the way that I like — he’s forward. He’s a little spicy. He has a big opinion. And honestly, I just adore him.

“I liked the course [today] when I walked it. I thought it was quite suitable for him. The tight time allowed also suits him. His feet always need to be moving. So you ride every round like it’s a speed class. And he also doesn’t have so much experience going fast. So the more he learns it, the better he gets. But he’s naturally fast. He doesn’t even have to go as fast as the others or do as few strides and he’s already faster. He’s just light in the air. He’s light off the ground. He’s really agile. And I think that we will see big things from this horse. I’m very excited about him.”

Ballard anticipates Game On becoming her true “second horse” to back up top horse Gakhir, a luxury that not all Canadian upper level riders manage to maintain.

“We rely on Gakhir so much. And he always steps up to the plate and he always gives us a result. But how nice would it be for him to have to have another horse so that he doesn’t have to be the one that we rely on all the time? It just shows how hard it is to get that horsepower and keep that horsepower. But when you have a horse that makes you feel like you can fly, you already are ahead of the game. So I have a team now and that’s really cool and really special.” 

It was truly an international field of competitors in the immaculate grass Fort Grand Prix Arena, with the top ten alone including riders from Canada, Ireland, Mexico, Korea and the United States. 

Ireland’s Conor Swail, the number 10 rider in the world, finished just behind Ballard in second place with a clean jump off round and a time of 38.79, with Patricio Pasquel of Mexico in third and Alicia Santa Rosa fractions of a second behind in 38.79.

This being Thunderbird Show Park’s 50th Anniversary, much discussion has centred around the idea of “legacy” over the past week. When asked what her legacy might be, Ballard very thoughtfully remarked, “In this sport I feel like there’s so much more to it than just riding. I hope people will remember me for being a great rider, but also a big influence in the sport and an influence to young girls that see me and they say ‘one day I want to be just like her.’ I think that Tiffany [Foster] probably feels the same way. So to have that for Canada — to have such a strong female presence and influence, I hope I’m remembered for things like that as well as for being the rider that I am.”

Game On, Erynn, Game On.

CSI2* $38,500 Grand Prix 1.45m 

Place / Horse / Rider / Owner / Country / JO Faults:Time

1. Game Over / Erynn Ballard / Ilan Ferder / CAN / 0:38.7
2. Casturano / Conor Swail / Rider / IRE / 0:38.79
3. Alicia Santa Rosa / Patricio Pasquel / MEX / 0:38.98
4. Kadans Van De Mispelaere / Jaehee Jeon / KOR / 0:41.3
5. Chicago CM / Eric Krawitt / Rider / CAN / 0:41.86
6. Cerolino / Kyle King / Ilan Ferder / USA / 4:38.78
7. Chic D Emma Z / Samantha Buirs-Darvill / Rider / CAN / 4:39.52
8. NKH Cento Blue / Shawn Casady / October Hill Sales / USA / 4:40.27
9. Howard Du Seigneur / James Chawke / IRE / 4:42.36
10. Chili Pepper H M Z / Lillie Keenan / Rider / USA / 4:43.72

Nicole Bourgeois of Wilsonville, Oregon, captured the $25,000 USHJA International 3’6” Hunter Derby with Wayfinder owned by Hilary Sosne. 

Leading from start to finish with an overall score of 348, Bourgeois topped her closest competitor Samantha Smith with Pierre, by a full 22 points.

When asked about her strategy for the two rounds, Bourgeois was quick to praise Wayfinder and their partnership:

“My strategy in the first round was just have a really smooth round,” she commented. “He’s an amazing jumper. As long as I somewhat get him near the jumps, he will do his job. It’s really nice to have a horse that jumps that well. I’m lucky he’s not spooky, so I don’t have to worry about that. I spooked a little bit at the barrels because in the Derby on Thursday the barrels were trouble for some. He’s not spooky, but I was a little spooky at them. He didn’t care at all and he couldn’t have been better. I’m lucky that I have such a nice horse to ride.

“I was a little conservative on my second round. Normally, I kind of go guns blazing in my second round, especially lately coming from California where there are just so many in the class. I was lucky here. There weren’t quite as many in the class, so I had a little bit of more of a conservative approach in the second round. I didn’t jump any of the high options. I just was going for a nice smooth second round, which he gave me.”

Congratulations are also in order as Bourgeois is an aunt to a new pony rider — her sister Kendall had a baby Friday night. The next generation of tbird riders is born just in time for another 50 years.

Charlie Jones (GBR) took top honours in Sunday’s $15,000 MarBill Hill U25 1.40m Grand Prix to cap the U25 division at Thunderbird Show Park’s 2023 Canadian Premier week.

When asked how he came to be here, from his native Warwickshire, England, the nephew of Olympic gold medalist Nick Skelton replied with a smile “Well, I met this girl…”

Jones, 24, and 8-year-old Montserrat are now based out of Calgary, with fellow international show jumper Bretton Chad (the girl) at Stone Ridge Farms. 

They had the luck of the draw on their side, going last in the nine horse jump-off. With only three double-clears in the second round, leaving the rails up already put them in the top three. Stopping the clock in 39.15 seconds put them three tenths of a second ahead of runners-up Virginia Bonnie (USA) and Heldorado on their 39.43. Canadian Lexie Ray finished in third with Cara 199, on a clean round and time of 42.17.

“[Montserrat] was right on it today. He’s a small horse so it’s not always so easy, but he has a big stride. He’s really sweet and is one of my favourites because he just is really hungry when he goes in a jump off. He really wants to win.

“He’s just 8, I’ve had him for a year. He’d done a few 1.30m classes in England as a 7-year old, and then we bought him from there. We competed here last year, and he won the 7-year-old Final here and then was second the next week. So he just loves that field!” 

The 1.40m Grand Prix was the final class in the week-long U25 division presented by MarBill Hill. Marion Cunningham and Bill Tilford of MarBill Hill Farm in Bradford, Ontario are big proponents of Canadian young riders and since 2017 have supported the U25 Young Riders Development series with competitions at Angelstone, Ottawa and Caledon (all Ontario) in addition to here at tbird.

“The U25 division is just a fantastic division,” remarked Jones. “You need it from when you’re coming out of young riders, especially to the age of 25. It’s a big step to go straight into CSI5* grand prix and big classes. So it’s a really good division to have at the 1.40m level, with good prize money. And this is one of the biggest tracks my younger horse has jumped to date as he’s just moving up to this level. Big thank you to MarBill Hill for this division.”

$15,000 MarBill Hill U25 1.40m Grand Prix

Place / Horse / Rider / Owner / Country / Rd 1 Faults/JO Faults:Time

1. Montserrat OS / Charlie Jones / Stone Ridge Farms / GBR / 0/0:39.15
2. Heldorado / Virginia Bonnie / Nina Bonnie / USA / 0/0:39.43
3. Cara 199 / Lexi Ray / Rider / CAN / 0/0:42.17
4. Ielinea JTL / Jaydan Stettner / Rider / USA /. 0/4:38.45
5. Carquilot / Francisco Pasquel Vega / Rider / MEX /. 0/4:39.69
6. ESI Jet Set / Carly Stevens / Grant & Susie Stevens / CAN / 0/4:40.84
7. Cabablue / Patricio Pasquel JR / Rider / MEX / 0/4:41.7
8. Texas / Justine Cha / Christine Cha / CAN / 0/4:44.27
9. Dustin 254 / Aren Ozker / Rider / CAN / 0/4:45.79
10. Pesto Adelheid Z / Lily Van Elliot / Yvonne Van Duin / CAN / 1:83.58

It’s hard not to lead with a bit of a cliché following Tiffany Foster’s win in Saturday’s CSI5* MLSJ Grand Prix at Thunderbird Show Park.

“Hometown Hero” seems the obvious choice, Foster having grown up here and going on to represent Canada at the Olympics. (She’s currently is the highest placed Canadian rider on the FEI Longines World Rankings.) But you could also lead with “nestled in the foothills of BC, with Mount Baker peeking through the trees surrounding the grand prix ring, under a clear blue sky…” Or you could start with it’s her first CSI5* Grand Prix title. 

It’s all true. 

Clean rounds were in short supply over the maximum-built 1.60m course from Germany’s Olaf Petersen. 

Fifth in the ring, Canada’s Erynn Ballard posted the first clean aboard her Herning 2022 World Championship mount Gakhir, much to the delight of the capacity crowd (and Olaf, presumably). Then the waiting game began. Horse after horse racked up faults on the leaderboard as the class wore on and then Karl Cook (USA) and Kalinka Van’T Zorgvliet with a heartbreaking two time faults.

Fortunately, Foster (CAN) with Northern Light and Shane Sweetnam (IRL) with James Kann Cruz were also able to find a fault-free path in the first round, followed by Lillie Keenan (USA) and Fasther, who stopped the clock smack on the time allowed of 73.00 seconds. Had she been 73.01 she would have had a time fault. Now we have a jump off.

First to return, Ballard had no choice but to play all her cards and force the rest to chase her. It was not to be, with the tbird vertical followed by the final fence coming down.

Foster was next, riding the fine line between a more conservative clear and still putting the pressure on. Clear in 39.18 seconds moved them into the lead.

Sweetnam’s spectacular James Kann Cruz, a horse with a 71% top 10 finish rate at the height (Jumpr App), had an unfortunate early rail. Keenan’s proven campaigner Fasther — the pair have earned 13 podium finishes and over 324k euro in prize money since 2019 (Jumpr App) — had a very hard look heading to the first fence, followed up by a refusal at the tbird vertical. The win was Foster’s.

Her first five star Grand Prix title. 

“It still hasn’t quite hit me, but I’m so happy and I’m so happy that this happened here at Thunderbird,” said an emotional Foster.

Northern Light (‘Nora’) is not the horse that she generally uses for these larger classes.

“I’ve called on her a couple of times to step up and jump some of these big 1.60m classes,” Foster explained. “But in general, I sort of keep her in the 1.50m/1.55m slot. That’s partly because I am so lucky with my owners and I have other horses that can jump that height so easily in Figor and Hamilton. 

“She’s the kind of horse who doesn’t like to jump that big every single week, because I think she has to make such a great effort. So I have played with jumping really small rounds and just keeping her happy, comfortable and relaxed. I think that I’m figuring out the formula with her. She also likes a smaller sand arena.

“So if I continue with my strategy and place her in the right spots, I think that I should never say that she’s my ‘third’ horse again!”

Both Sweetnam and Keenan admitted fault for their faults on course. “I’ll take the blame for that [rail]. I just wanted to be tighter to the triple bar, and the distance didn’t really come up,” said Sweetnam.

“But I’m very happy with the way he jumped and it was great class.”

And Keenan: “My horse could not have done any more for me and I made a really stupid mistake. That’s how the sport goes when you’re trying to win, but I mean, with the mistake I made, with the fact that I ended up third, I don’t deserve to be third, but my horse deserves everything. So I’m just really, really happy and grateful that I got to keep going with him and looking forward to the next show.”

Course designer Olaf Petersen didn’t anticipate a big jump off, but admitted to a moment of nerves.

“I knew we had a very good group of horses,” said Petersen. 

“Also it was an Olympic qualifier and so today was really five star to the maximum build. I knew that we wouldn’t get more clear rounds. But the riders walked the course and they thought it was a little bit on the easy side. Then I got a little bit nervous, until I watched the first horses jumping.”

Show president and operations director Chris Pack summed up how the tbird family feels about bringing the Major League Jumping tour to the Park: “I think I speak for them when we say we’ve become fans. We’ve had three riders in the top ten in the world here this week. That’s never happened. This was our biggest purse for a Grand Prix, and for Tiff to win it at home is pretty cool. We had a great afternoon, lots of people. So we’re really appreciative of what Matt Morrissey and Keean White have started and brought to us and we’re really grateful to be a part of the circuit.”

CSI5* $414,300 Grand Prix 1.55m

Place / Horse / Rider / Owner / Country / Round 1 Faults/Round 2 Faults:Time

1. Northern Light / Tiffany Foster / Artisan Farms LLC / CAN / 0/0:39.18
2. James Kann Cruz / Shane Sweetnam / Gizmo Partners LLC / IRE / 0/4:38.80
3. Fasther / Lillie Keenan / Rider / USA / 0/4:44.95
4. Gakhir / Erynn Ballard / Ilan Ferder & Esperanza Imports LLC / 0/8:37.07
5. Kalinka Van’t Zorgvliet / Karl Cook / Sign Ostby / 2:74.33
6. Legacy / Daniel Coyle / Ariel Grange / IRE / 4:69.05
7. Ariso / Jordan Coyle / Elan Farm / IRE / 4:70.92
8. Oakingham Lira / Alison Robitaille / Alison Firestone LLC / 4:71.35
9. Emerson / Mario Deslauriers / Wishing Well Farm LLC / 4:71.69
10. Greya / Kent Farrington / Kent Farrington LLC / 4:72.10

 

In a jump-off field of ten, it’s almost a given there will be an Irish rider somewhere in the mix. Saturday afternoon was no exception at tbird’s MLSJ Canadian Premier. 

FEI Nations Cup™ Final individual silver and team gold medalist Paul O’Shea was almost casually efficient in his approach to riding at speed with Squirt Gun, jumping to the top of the leaderboard in the 1.50m Winning Round class on a time of 39.25 seconds.

America’s Charlotte Jacobs and Rincoola Milsean had the quicker time, clocking in just over 37 seconds, but dropped a rail, which meant they would have to settle for a spot much further down the list.

“I saw Jacqueline [Steffens] go. She was very quick and her horse is a very fast horse. And Darragh [Kenny] was behind me, so I thought I had to give it a really good go, because Darragh’s one of the fastest riders in the world. So we just went to go as quick as we could in a comfortable way for Squirt, and he really jumped fantastic today.”

The pair boasts a 63% clean round average over 43 rounds at the 1.50m height (Jumpr App). For O’Shea, the goal with his sometimes high spirited mount is to keep calm and carry on.

“I just try to ride him nice and relaxed. Sometimes if I feel he’s holding a lot of tension, we gallop for a few strides, just a little faster, and then he kind of lets a squeal out and relaxes again,” shared O’Shea. “[I] just keep it all nice and easy and calm and no big deal, no pressure. He really wants to do the right thing. He’s a very honest horse.”

Finishing second, also for Eye Candy Jumpers, was Canada’s Jacqueline Steffens with Hellcat, posting a clear round in a time of 40.71. Fellow Canadian Nicole Walker rounded out the top three Excellent B, on a clean round in 40.74.

CSI5* $39,000 Winning Round 1.50m 

Place / Horse / Rider / Owner / Country / Jump Off Faults:Time

1. Squirt Gun / Paul O’Shea / Eye Candy Jumpers / IRE / 0:39.25
2. Hellcat / Jacqueline Steffens / Eye Candy Jumpers / CAN / 0:40.71
3. Excellent B / Nicole Walker / Rider / CAN / 0:40.74
4. Carmela Z / Vanessa Mannix / Rider / CAN / 0:42.56
5. Rincoola Milsean / Charlotte Jacobs / North Star / USA / 4:37.05
6. Yoghi Flp / Grant Seger / Fox Lair Performance / USA / 4:39.00
7. California Pie / Darragh Kenny / Carol Sollak / 4:39.27
8. OO Seven De L’Equipe / Jessica Mendoza / 4:40.91
9. Callisto Blue / Caroline Mawhinney / Rider / 4:41.09
10. Conrado 12 / Ali Ramsay / Ramsay Equestrian Inc / 4:41.45

Three seconds is about the time it takes you to sneeze. Or if it’s added to your jumping score in a Major League Show Jumping gold medal round, the time it takes to hand the gold to Team Eye Candy and settle for silver. That’s exactly what happened Friday night at Thunderbird Show Park in the MLSJ Team Competition presented by Premier Equestrian.

Taking place over three rounds, speed and rails determine which teams move on and which ones go back to the barn in rapid succession. Modelled after other major league sports and F1, the MLSJ team event is now in its third year and boasts an impressive roster of top horse and rider talent. The 10-stop tour starts at tbird and spans three countries, offering $11,000,000 in prize money in 2023; $1,000,000 of which will go directly to the Team Final in December.

Round one quickly established who was in it to win it and as Eye Candy anchor rider Amy Millar said, “You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first one.”

Teams with eight and 12 faults in the first round didn’t make the cut. The four teams to advance to the second round were the Crusaders (4 faults and combined time of 218.67 seconds); the Roadrunners (1 fault, 232.98); the Trelawny Trailblazers (0 faults, 217.05); and Team Eye Candy (0 faults, 227.03).

The second round over Olaf Petersen’s shortened course established who would ultimately be riding for medals. The bronze medal was battled out between the Trailblazers and Roadrunners, leaving gold medal match to be fought by Crusaders and Eye Candy in the third and final round.

Going head to head for the bronze were Kaitlin Campbell and Diacco-Blue for the Roadrunners and world no. 10 Conor Swail and Theo 160 for the Trailblazers. Campbell pulled the penultimate fence adding a 3-second penalty to her time leaving the door open for Swail to post a (somewhat) conservative clear and take the bronze.

In the gold medal round, Eye Candy’s anchor rider and Canadian Olympian Amy Millar wound right up with Christiano. With his huge stride and a bit of a lucky rub at the second fence, they posted a clear round in a time of 34.11 seconds. As soon as the Crusaders Grant Seger and Freida pulled the rail at the tbird oxer, it was all over.

At the post-event press conference, team Eye Candy had the opportunity to talk about their strategy, their team relationships and their chosen charity, the Kevin Babington Foundation.

Of her longtime partner Christiano, with whom she has a 49% clean round rate in 91 starts (Jumpr App), Millar remarked “It’s well proven that he loves this class and it makes him feel important. He loves going out there and having everyone cheer for him! When you ride for [owner/manager] Erica Hatfield you bring your best. I love riding on the Canadian team and I love riding on team Eye Candy.”

Teammate Jessica Mendoza coaches Caroline Mawhinney and both had an exceptional debut to the Major League series Friday evening. Named to the team in 2022, Mendoza suffered a broken shoulder and was unable to compete; Mawhinney is just 17 and tbird was also her CSI5* jumping debut.

The advice she got from Mendoza: “Don’t think about the pressure. Just go in and try to do your best,” shared Mawhinney. “I know she’s set me up in the best way possible to be prepared for these classes. So it’s really riding the best that I can. I was really nervous but I know she was supporting me the whole way.”

This year MLSJ has introduced a charity element to the mix with each team riding for their chosen charity and donating a portion of their winnings each show. Team manager Erica Hatfield chose the Kevin Babington Foundation at the beginning of the year, not realizing how connected it would become to the Team. 

Amy Millar’s brother, Jonathan, suffered a traumatic spinal injury in Florida earlier this year, and is now one of the many riders benefitting from the support of the Kevin Babington Foundation while receiving intensive rehabilitation therapy at the prestigious Shepherd Center in Atlanta. 

“Having the opportunity to be there and receive treatment will totally change the trajectory of Jonathan’s recovery,” said Millar. 

Major League Show Jumping continues at Thunderbird Show Park with the $414,300 CSI5* Grand Prix taking place Saturday afternoon.

For tickets, schedule and additional information visit www.tbird.ca.

Any horse person will tell you the old expression “the best laid plans gang aft awry” is never more true than with horses. And Daniel Coyle can attest to that following his win with Jasper in Thursday morning’s CSI2* Cabana Coast Qualifier 1.45m speed class at Thunderbird Show Park to come out ahead in the field of 59 starters by nearly two full seconds.

The class marks the 9-year-old gelding’s FEI debut and while they won, it didn’t go quite as Coyle intended. 

“Nothing went according to plan,” he laughed following the presentations. “The first line and the triple bar also [as the first fence] when they’re a little green and it’s a speed class, they can either jump it very well or not at all—and usually both ways clear it. 

“Jasper didn’t really cover the ground to the second fence so I had to do one more stride there and then I was very tight back on the third fence, which left me very dead and slow. I had to do an extra stride…and then I knew I was a few strides behind, so I took some risks on some of the roll backs and I think that’s where I caught it. It was never in a straight line that made me win today.”

Purchased by Ariel Grange as a 5-year-old, Jasper is new to Coyle having been brought along by Hyde Moffatt and Brady Hayes before taking an unplanned vacation during the covid pandemic. Coyle’s philosophy is to teach his young horses to go slowly and relaxed before learning to run and jump — because generally going faster is the easier part.

“Jasper needs to learn to be faster. But he also is not very good at being slow and lazy. So I start there and if I can get him to achieve that, he’ll learn the quick thing pretty quick,” he explained.

“I feel like if I can use my experience to make him better horse, then that’s also better for him rather than just leaving everything to him always.”

Fellow Irishman and tbird’s winningest rider Conor Swail took second with Casturano on a time of 63.96, and Mexico’s Patricio Pasquel with Alicia Santa Rosa took third on 64.6.

CSI2* $38,500 Cabana Coast Qualifier 1.45m

Place / Horse / Rider / Owner / Country / Faults:Time

1. Jasper / Daniel Coyle / Ariel Grange / IRE / 0:61.87
2. Casturano / Conor Swail / Rider / IRE / 0:63.96
3. Alicia Santa Rosa / Patricio Pasquel / Rider / MEX / 0:64.6
4. Oaks Come By Chance / David Cameron / Rider / AUS / 0:64.99
5. Fasole Du Seigneur / Alexis Sokolov / Rider / USA / 0:65.4
6. NKH Cento Blue / Shawn Casady / October Hill Sales / USA / 0:65.62
7. KS Coradina / Susan Horn / Kingsfield Farm / CAN / 0:66.9
8. GCS Athena / Amy Millar / Brookstreet Stables / CAN / 0:67.01
9. Viamdios D’Avril / Lauren Esdale / Pauline Esdale / USA / 0:67.69
10. Edita / Zume Gallaher / Blue Gate Stables LLC / USA / 0:67.8

Ireland’s Daniel Coyle topped a baker’s dozen jumping off for $142,400 in the CSI5* 1.50m Thursday afternoon at Thunderbird Show Park, kicking off five star competition at MLSJ Canadian Premier week.

Under picture perfect skies Coyle brought Ariel Grange’s Gisborne VDL into the Thunderbird Jumper Arena to tackle Olaf Petersen’s short track. They followed Canada’s Ali Ramsay, who had just posted a blistering time of 37.97 seconds aboard her 2022 national championship winning mount Bonita VH Keizershof with a lot of go and very little “whoa.” Shaving fractions of a second off and leaving a stride out, Coyle and Gisborne VDL stopped the clock in 37.59 to take over the lead.

“Because Gisborne’s a big-strided horse and not the fastest, I did one less stride from the first to second fence than most people. And then the roll-backs were everything and just by luck, by chance, they came up good for me,” said the world no. 20.

A relatively new mount for Coyle, the 2011 stallion came into the barn in December and they have been steadily figuring each other out since. In 12 international rounds at 1.40m to 1.60m, the pair has a 50% clear round rate, according to Jumpr App. Thursday’s CSI5* 1.50m marks their first international victory and third podium finish.

“Everything we have asked him to do so far has been brilliant and we have high hopes for him,” explained Coyle. “But he’s starting to figure out that going fast to these big fences is all right.”

Coyle chuckled when asked what he likes most about third.

“I always seem to win something here, it’s been a very lucky show for me. And once something is lucky, it usually stays lucky for you. I did my first Nations Cup here successfully [editor’s note: he jumped double clear] and I’ve been coming back ever since. And I always come here with new horses and learn so much about them, with the sand ring and the grass ring over the two weeks.”

tbird’s 50th Anniversary continues with the MLSJ Canadian Premier on Friday, featuring the CSI2* Cabana Coast Qualifier 1.45m, MarBill Hill U25 1.40m, and the CSI5* MLSJ Team Event. For tickets are on sale at www.tbird.ca.

It wasn’t Alison Robitaille’s intention to go fast or be particularly competitive in Thursday morning ’s CSI2* 1.40m Two-Phase with Jikke-Cara, it being their first time out on the grass field of the Fort Grand Prix Arena at Thunderbird Show Park. But “Bunny Rabbit” as she is known in the barn (because she looks like the emoji of course) picked up the pace and kept on rolling, right to the top of the 60-horse field. 

“We were lucky to show in Wellington on the grass recently, so we got our feet wet out there,” remarked Robitaille. “She has a very big stride — I left out a stride down the very first line and just was able to keep that pace throughout the whole course.”

A relatively new pairing, Robitaille purchased the Dutch Warmblood mare in 2022 from world no. 9 Kent Farrington (USA). 

“She was in Europe, so [I bought her] pretty much sight unseen. But [Kent] thought it would be good match. She came over in quarantine and I agreed with him—and off we went,” said Robitaille.

The pair have been training with Farrington for the past year and developing their partnership at the 1.35m-1.40m height. They have clear round average of 67% over six rounds at the 1.40m-1.45m level, according to Jumpr App.

Honourable mention goes to Canada’s Susan Horn with three in the top-ten.

CSI2* $1,000 1.40M 

Place / Horse / Rider / Owner / Country / Rd 1 Faults / JO Faults:JO Time

1. Jikke-Cara / Alison Robitaille / Alison Firestone LLC / USA / 0/0:35.38
2. Fasole Du Seigneur / Alexis Sokolov / Rider / USA / 0/0:35.8
3. Cadeau Z / Mandy Porter / Risen Eq Holdings LLC / USA / 0/0:38.61
4. Chacca Keeps II / Susan Horn / Kingsfield Farm / CAN / 0/0:38.79
5. Valentino D’Elte / Vanessa Mannix / Rider / CAN / 0/0:38.98
6. Casturano / Conor Swail / Rider / IRE / 0/0:39
7. Kirlo Van Den Bosrand / Susan Horn / Kingsfield Farm / CAN / 0/0:39.24
8. KS Coradina / Susan Horn / Kingsfield Farm / CAN / 0/0:40.27
9. Oaks Come By Chance / David Cameron / Rider / AUS / 0/0:40.74
10. Oaks Cassanova / Samuel Overton / Rider / AUS / 0/0:40.88

In decisive style, Georgia Knight, 19, of Victoria, BC, and her mount Onyx captured the win in the $5,000 MarBill Hill U25 1.35m class Wednesday afternoon at Thunderbird Show Park—their very first U25 competition together.

Topping a field of 25 young riders from Canada, the United States and Mexico, including many experienced riders, Knight bested the ten who advanced to the jump off by nearly three full seconds. Having spent most of her riding career competing in the hunter ring, Knight is still working on speed, especially in such an expansive ring as the Fort Grand Prix Arena, and admits to recently having had time faults in more than one jump-off round.

“I always feel like I’m going much faster than I actually am,” laughed Knight following the awards presentation. “Onyx is owned by Joelle Froese and we’re leasing him. He’s jumped some big classes in his life. When I got him a year and a half ago, I had only been jumping at 1.20m and he’s brought me right up to the 1.40m. So he has a very special place in my heart. He’s taught me a lot.”

The final fence in both rounds was the MarBill Hill oxer, and course designer Meghan Rawlins’ placement of it right in front of the in/out gate very nearly tempted 18-year-old Onyx to exit stage left.

“Galloping to the last fence in both rounds, I could feel Onyx eyeing the in-gate, not really getting his eye on that last fence. Fortunately I was able to get him paying attention.” 

The pair will compete in two more MarBill Hill U25 classes at tbird as part of the MLSJ Canadian Premier week of competition, once in Friday’s 1.40m class and in the $15,000 Grand Prix on Sunday. Their ultimate goal is to compete in the international U25 final at tbird this September.

World-class show jumping continues through Sunday with the launch of this year’s Major League Show Jumping tour, featuring CSI2* and CSI5* competition. Riders representing ten countries, including Olympians Amy Millar, Tiffany Foster and Mario Deslauriers (Canada); Darragh Kenny and Shane Sweetnam (Ireland); Nayel Nassar (Egypt); and Kent Farrington (USA) will compete for prize money and team points.

For tickets, entries and schedule information and streaming on TBIRD TV, visit www.tbird.ca.

$5,000 MarBill Hill U25 1.35m
Place / Horse / Rider / Hometown / Owner / Faults / Time

1. Onyx / Georgia Knight / Victoria, BC / Joelle Froese / 0:41.79
2. Ielinea JTL / Jaydan Stettner / Regina, SK / Jaydan Stettner / 0:44.07
3. Jillz / Natalie Popham / Victoria, BC / Natalie Popham / 0:44.18
4. Texas / Justine Cha / Camrose, AB / Christine Cha / 0:45.16
5. ESI Jet Set / Carly Stevens / Foothills, AB / Grant & Susie Stevens / 0:45.91
6. Lestat OLD / Ashley Arnoldt / Langley, BC / Jennifer Arnoldt / 0:46.29
7. Duke of Doel / Tali DeJong / Golden, CO / Tali DeJong / 0:48.48
8. Sonny Brigade / Jennifer Clark / Mill Bay, BC / Jennifer Clark / 4:42.91
9. Starkato / Sam Walker / Nobleton, ON / Tal Milstein / 4:44.8
10. Cabablue / Patricio Pasquel Jr. / MEX / Patricio Pasquel / 8:49.87