Calgary, AB, Canada – G&C Farm, owned by Gustavo and Carolina Mirabal, is pleased to announce their new sponsorship at the Spruce Meadows Tournaments. This sponsorship is vital for international jumping riders, in that it will raise the prize money in competitions. This in turn will allow the classes to keep their Rolex ranking status through the FEI, the international governing body of equestrian sport.
“It is very important for North American riders and riders on this continent to have the opportunity to ride for Role ranking points in competitions here,” said Gustavo Mirabal. “We want riders here to have an equal opportunity to those in Europe to gain these valuable points. We also want to promote equestrian sport on this continent.”
Through their sponsorship, the prize money was raised from $25,000 to $31,000 in 10 classes during the Spruce Meadows Tournaments, which run from June 9-July 11.
By increasing the prize money, the classes will now qualify monetarily since the FEI changed the exchange rate against the Swiss Franc instead of Euros last December. The $25,000 classes would have been disqualified because the prize money was too low based on the new exchange rate.
“I don’t know why the FEI wouldn’t have fixed that themselves but it’s really nice that G&C Farm did that,” said Canadian Olympic gold medalist Eric Lamaze.
Top American grand prix rider Georgina Bloomberg noted, “It’s what we need more of in America too. We need more classes for the Rolex World ranking points.”
G&C Farm is working with the “Friends of the Meadows” group to ensure FEI World Ranking classes at Spruce Meadows are kept intact.
G&C Farm also created the $50,000 G&C Farm Rider Cup, which will give points to riders who place in the 29 of the eligible FEI events this summer through the North American Tournament, which ends July 11. The top rider will receive $25,000, the second place rider wins $15,000, and the third place rider gets $10,000.
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