Canada has qualified to compete in the final round of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Final, on Saturday, October 11, 2014, with a three-way tie for third place following the first round of competition today. The prestigious Final is being held at CSIO5* Barcelona, in Barcelona, ESP, October 9-12, 2014.
The two-round competition started with a large, technical course set by Spain’s Santiago Varela Ullastres with a generous 79 second time allowed. Yann Candele of Caledon, Ont., started Canada off with a perfect, clean round riding Showgirl (Gold de Becourt x Elf III) a 14-year-old Selle Français mare owned by the Watermark Group.
Second in the ring for Canada was Tiffany Foster of Vancouver, B.C., and Tripple X III (Namelus R x Contango) a 12-year-old Anglo European stallion owned by Artisan Farms LLC, who mastered the course until the very last fence, a vertical liverpool, which unfortunately came down for four faults.
Also posting four faults, with a rail down at the first element of the triple combination, was Ben Asselin of Calgary, Alta., riding Makavoy (Hors la Loi II x Ahorn) an 11-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Attaché Stables.
With two verticals lowered on course, Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, Ont., and Zigali P S (Kigali x STB-H Palfrenier) a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding owned by Artisan Farms LLC, posted a score of eight faults, which would be the team’s drop score. Canada finished with eight faults, which easily qualified them for Saturday’s final round.
It was the first day today at the Nations Cup Final, and we are really pleased,” said Candele, who also represented Canada at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2014 in Normandy, FRA this summer. “My mare jumped very well today. Our main focus was to qualify for the second round, and everyone was excellent as a group. We are looking forward for Saturday night.”
The top eight teams moving forward to Saturday’s second round — Netherlands (0), Sweden (4), Belgium (8), Canada (8), Germany (8), Italy (12), Brazil (12) and Great Britain (14) — will be competing for the 1,500,000€ of prize money. Saturday’s round starts with a clean slate.
The remaining six teams — United States (16), Spain (17), Australia (24), France (24), Qatar (29) and Venezuela (32) — will move into Friday’s Challenge Cup.
Riders who post two clear rides in both rounds of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Final or Friday’s team consolation, the Challenge Cup, will split a 200,000€ bonus purse.
To learn more about CSIO5* Barcelona, please visit www.csiobarcelona.com.
A Nations Cup is the only competition in show jumping where riders, competing in teams of four, compete against other countries for top honours. The top three scores from each team are counted towards the final result of the two-round competition.
For additional information about the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Series, please visit www.fei.org/fei/events/fei-nations-cup-series.
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