Spruce Meadows hosts Canada's Olympic hopefuls
Canada’s show jumping Olympic hopefuls are in action in Calgary this weekend for the first tournament of the Spruce Meadows outdoor season.
Equestrian veteran and eight-time Olympian Ian Millar is part of a Canadian contingent that includes Ontario riders Eric Lamaze, Jill Henselwood and Mac Cone, Quebec’s Mario Deslauriers and British Columbia's Karen Cudmore.
The Spruce Meadows National Tournament features the Canadian Championships and the beginning of the $1 million CN Precision Series, with the headline event slated for Saturday.
Millar, expected to tie a world record when he’s named to his ninth Olympic Games later this month, is the all-time money leader at Spruce Meadows and two-time CN International Champion.
The 61-year-old Perth, Ont., resident says his horse, In Style, is in top form.
"Things are good, he’s in great form, right on schedule to get ready for the Beijing Olympics," Millar said in a phone interview Friday from Calgary. "He’s fast, he’s powerful, he knows exactly where his legs are. He sees a big occasion and he’s able to sense it and rise to the occasion. With all that, he has what it takes to be the winner."
The most decorated equestrian in Canadian history, Millar compares 13-year-old In Style to Big Ben. The pair became the first rider and horse team to win back-to-back World Cup show jumping finals in 1988 and ’89.
"We work very, very well together," Millar said of In Style. "I would say the horse knows me extremely well and I know him extremely well."
Not competing at Spruce Meadows are Millar’s kids, Jonathon and Amy, accomplished show jumpers themselves who are currently on tour in Quebec.
The big event for Canada’s aspiring Olympians this weekend is the CN Grand Prix on Saturday. Lamaze and his horse, Hickstead, individual bronze medallists at the 2007 Pan American Games, won the 2007 CN International and will be looking to repeat.
Also back to defend a few Spruce Meadows titles is Henselwood, 45, who rides Special Ed. The individual gold medallist at the 2007 Pan Am Games, Henselwood won the Spruce Meadows North American in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and last year was the Chrysler Classic Derby champion.
Millar, who finished 11th at the Spruce Meadows kickoff event Wednesday, says the Canadian show-jumping team is looking solid as the Games approach.
"I would say it’s the strongest team Canada’s seen in a lot of years," he said. "If everything lines up, we could get a medal. The horse-rider combinations that we’re zeroing in on have that capability, but they all have to fire at the same time, and that’s the trick. You have to have four horse-rider combinations going."
The Canadian show jumping team of Millar, Lamaze, Henselwood and Cone, who rides Melinda, won silver at the 2007 Pan Am Games and at the 2008 Olympic Games qualification.
Deslaurier and Cudmore are other front-runners vying to crack the four-person Olympic team, which will also require an alternate who travels to Hong Kong, where the equestrian events will be held.
The team is expected to be named later this month. It will include two non-traveling alternates in addition to the five who will go to Hong Kong.