Team Canada Wins $75,000 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Presented by G&C Farm   

The Canadian team of Yann Candele, Tiffany Foster, Eric Lamaze, and Ian Millar earned victory in Friday night's $75,000 Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ presented by G&C Farm, at the 2014  FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF) in Wellington, FL. Teams representing 12 different countries participated in the evening's competition with a win for Team Canada over Great Britain in second and USA in third.

Friday night's Nations Cup competition consisted of two rounds shown over a demanding course set by USA's Steve Stephens. Teams of four represented the nations of Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, USA, and Venezuela. Chile, Israel, and New Zealand were also represented with three riders each.

In the second round, the top eight teams returned in order of highest to lowest total faults. The winner was determined by the lowest total of each team's top three riders from each round.
 

The winning Canadian team consisted of Yann Candele and the Watermark Group's Showgirl, Tiffany Foster and Artisan Farms LLC and Torrey Pines' Victor, Ian Millar aboard Ariel and Susan Grange's Dixson, and Eric Lamaze riding Artisan Farms LLC's Powerplay, led by Chef d'Equipe Mark Laskin.

In round one, Candele, Millar and Lamaze all jumped clear rounds, dropping Foster's score of four to head into round two on zero. In the second round, Candele jumped another clear round and Millar and Foster each had four faults. The team had secured the victory, finishing on eight faults total, and Lamaze did not have to return for a second round.

Following their victory, Canadian Chef d'Equipe Mark Laskin was very happy with the evening's result and praised his horses and riders.

"In Canada, it's always a good team feeling!" Laskin stated. "We have a great group; we always have. Somehow they always come together to get the job done. Canada has been on a bit of a roll. First it was curling, and then women's bobsled, then it was hockey, and now it's show jumping!"

"I want to welcome Yann Candele back to our team. I am really happy to have him, especially tonight," Laskin added. "I think that's a key for Canada right now. We have four fantastic riders with four fantastic horses, and they did an incredible job tonight."

Showgirl, a 14-year-old Selle Francais mare by Gold De Becourt x Elf III, is a new mount for Candele and he spoke about how teammate Eric Lamaze helped him get the ride.

"For me, it's just a new group that Eric put together. We were in Barcelona for the final last year, and Eric was thinking already about WEG (World Equestrian Games). He looked at that mare and approached the owner to be able to acquire it for me because Eric is not selfish and he's all about the team," Candele noted. "He put a group together of Canadian and American owners to be able to have that mare compete for Canada under me. I think all the success of today is all about Eric and his team spirit as well as Captain (Millar) and Tiffany. We are solid as it can be. That is the end result we had today, and we are going to try to keep going for bigger and bigger events."

"Captain Canada" Ian Millar is forming a great partnership with his mount Dixson, an eleven-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding by Vigo d'Arsouilles x Olisco, and was happy with his horse's performance.

"I've had him for a year, and he is coming along extremely well," Millar stated. "I am looking to include him in the next cycle for the World Equestrian Games, Pan American Games and Olympics, so it is a very long term plan for him."

"I was very pleased with him today," Millar continued. "His progress is great. He just gets better and better. He is the right age; he's a young horse and he has his whole life and his whole future ahead of him, and I'm very proud to have him."

Foster commented on the evening with Victor, a 12-year-old KWPN gelding by Elmshorn x Grandeur, and that she has had great success with this year. "I'm really excited about winning this tonight," Foster said. "I thought my horse jumped really well. The first round he was a little bit unsettled. He got a little bit rushed in a few places, but the second round he came back really well and I was very happy with him."

Powerplay, a ten-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Casall x Limbus, jumped a great first round with Lamaze and was rewarded with the team's success by not having to return for a second trip. Lamaze spoke about his night as well.

"For us it is a fantastic evening," Lamaze expressed. "My horse jumped very well, and I had the pleasure to ride with many great riders on the Canadian team. No one but this young man next to me (Millar) has ridden so much for our nation. We take it very seriously, and we pull together with results like tonight."

The team from Great Britain finished second on Friday with rides from Ben Maher and Tatiana Korsakova's Diva II, Tim Gredley and Unex Competition Yard's Unex Chamberlain Z, Gemma Paternoster and her own and Julia Harrison Lee's Osiris, and Scott Brash aboard Lord and Lady Harris/Lord and Lady Kirkham's Hello Annie, headed by Chef d'Equipe Rob Hoekstra.

Maher and Diva II had four faults in each round, Gredley and Unex Chamberlain Z jumped double clear rounds, Gemma Paternoster and Osiris had one time fault in round one and nine faults in round two, and Scott Brash and Hello Annie finished with nine faults in round one and jumped clear in the second round. The team finished on nine faults total.

Team USA finished third with 12 faults overall with their team made up of McLain Ward and Sagamore Farms' Rothchild, Brianne Goutal and Remarkable Farms LP's Nice de Prissey, Laura Kraut and Cherry Knoll Farm Inc.'s Cedric, and Beezie Madden riding Abigail Wexner's Simon, all under the guidance of Chef d'Equipe Robert Ridland.

Ward and Kraut both jumped clear in round one while Goutal and Madden each had four faults. In round two, Ward finished on eight, Goutal and Kraut each incurred four faults, and Madden returned with a clear round.

Ridland spoke to the result of his team Friday night, stating, "For us, last year was probably more fun, but it is a long-standing, competitive relationship between our two countries (U.S. and Canada). I seem to remember a jump-off for a gold and silver in a pretty recent Olympics. For tonight, we had some of those Olympians with us, all of whom jumped clean rounds. We felt that we were in it until the very end. It was just a rail here and a rub there. Brianne of course was our young rider. She got a tremendous amount of experience tonight under big pressure."

"This to me is now maturing into a real Nations Cup," Ridland acknowledged. "You are seeing real pressure out here. This is a Nations Cup we can be very proud of in this country, and it is only going to get better. That was a tough competition, 12 countries, and it has matured."

Beezie Madden also spoke about the evening and her rounds with Simon, stating, "I was happy with my horse today. I wish I had been clear the first round because he went beautifully, but he came back and went even better in the second round. Hats off to the Canadians. They did a great job. It was fantastic sport today, and thank you to G&C Farm, Furusiyya, and Equestrian Sport Productions. You all did a great job today."

The other top teams included Brazil and Ireland tied for fourth, Venezuela in sixth, Colombia in seventh, and Germany in eighth. The teams from Mexico, New Zealand, Chile and Israel did not return for the second round. Mexico finished ninth, New Zealand tenth, Chile eleventh, and Israel twelfth.
 

In addition to Yann Candele and Showgirl for Canada, the competition saw double clear rounds from Brazil's Alvaro de Miranda and AD Uutje as well as Great Britain's Tim Gredley and Unex Chamberlain Z.

For full results, please visit 

Ben Maher and Urico Win $150,000 CSIO 4* Grand Prix Presented by Wellington Equestrian Realty

Week eight of the 2014 FTI Consulting Winter Equestrian Festival (FTI WEF), sponsored by G&C Farm, concluded on Sunday with another big win for Great Britain's Ben Maher in the $150,000 CSIO 4* Grand Prix, presented by Wellington Equestrian Realty. Maher guided Jane Clark's Urico to victory over USA's Laura Kraut and Nouvelle in second and Ireland's Cian O'Connor aboard Quidam's Cherie in third. Also showing at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center (PBIEC) on Sunday, McLain Ward (USA) and HH Carlos Z won for the second day in a row with a top finish in the $25,000 Suncast� 1.50m Championship Jumper Classic.

Steve Stephens concluded a fantastic week of world-class competition with a challenging course for Sunday's $150,000 CSIO 4* Grand Prix. There were riders from 18 different countries in in today's grand prix, and 36 of 50 riders were from outside of the United States.

The course yielded 12 clear rounds out 50 entries for an exciting jump-off of top international riders from eight different countries. In the end, it was once again Ben Maher who led the victory gallop after completing the fastest clear jump-off round in 40.85 seconds aboard Urico. The pair finished over three seconds faster than second place finishers Laura Kraut and Nouvelle with a time of 44.09 seconds.

Cian O'Connor and Quidam's Cherie took third place honors in 44.23 seconds. Sharn Wordley (NZL) and Ashland Stables' Derly Chin de Muze finished fourth in 46.86 seconds, and Kent Farrington (USA) and Robin Parsky's Blue Angel had the fastest time in 38.30 seconds, but had the last jump down to place fifth.

"It was a difficult course actually in the first round," Maher said after the class. "I thought it got big; after the water jump it really changed. The fences before it weren't too difficult, and then once the water took its toll on the horses, the jumps got bigger and a lot of faults came. There were a lot of clears today and certainly a lot of fast ones in the jump-off. I tried to ride the jump-off that I could do, not one that I couldn't do."

"Urico is an incredibly fast horse," Maher dedcribed. "He kind of anticipates turns before you're even there. It looked like one of those jump-offs where rails were falling, and it maybe wouldn't get too quick. I know that Cian's horse is quite inexperienced; jumping very well, but I did not know how quick he would go. I knew that Beezie would be faster than me probably whatever I did, so I rode the round that I could, and fortunately it was just quicker than Laura today and good enough to win."

Maher described the win with Urico as an important moment in his partnership with the 13-year-old KWPN gelding (Zandor Z x Fedor). "I think this is probably even more special for me today because we took a lot of time with Urico since this time last year," he stated. "We had a few teething problems and a lot of work has gone into him for six or seven months. Jade Steinsdorfer, who looks after him, has put a lot of time in. Jane Clark believed in my system and has let me get on with it and it has really paid off. He certainly feels a very, very useful horse to go along with Cella and my other horses right now. It is a big milestone and a confidence boost for us today."
 

"He did start very well here," Maher detailed. "He had some good results here last year as well, I just felt that we needed a slightly different program. I went home and worked on building him physically in a different way and getting him stronger and more confident. I am just gaining his trust really. I think that he really believes in me now, and he trusts me. He is a very sensitive horse and a very careful horse. You have to be careful when to push the right buttons and when not to."
 

Maher has now won four of the eight major grand prix classes at this year's FTI WEF.  He also won week one's $30,000 Mar-a-Lago Club Grand Prix aboard Kavanagh IV and topped both week three's Fidelity Investments Grand Prix CSI 3* and week five's $370,000 FEI World Cup Grand Prix CSI-W 5* presented by Rolex aboard Cella.

"It has been incredible here so far for me," Maher acknowledged. "I think Jane's horses love being at home. They get to go in the paddock and be real horses and come to the ring here fresh. Things seem to be going my way right now and I know how quickly things can change around, so I am enjoying it as much as I can while it is happening."

"I love jumping here," he added. "I enjoy the fact that Jane can come and watch as many events as we can get to. The horses haven't jumped too much. We make a very careful plan for here. It's only early in the year, but Urico had three months off the end of last year, and I chose not to use him in the indoor season and keep him ready and fresh for here. Cella also didn't jump so much towards the end of last year. They come over here about four or five times each and don't have to jump too many classes when we're here because I have been pre-qualified for some of the grand prix. The plan is going great so far and I hope it continues, but I am just going to enjoy what's happening so far."
 

Behind Maher and Urico, Laura Kraut finished second aboard the Evita Group's Nouvelle, a ten-year-old KWPN mare by Solitair x Contango. Nouvelle is just coming back this season after an injury and had a great finish.

"She got hurt last June, she broke her pedal bone in her foot, so basically from June until I got here she was off," Kraut explained. "The first fences she jumped were here in January, so today is her very first grand prix and I am really pleased with how she performed. She has matured and I don't think the time of rest seemed to hurt her too much because she has come back sort of where she was ready to be before she got hurt."

Kraut was a little worried about Nouvelle's inexperience in the class, but was hoping for a good result. "I knew that I had Ben and Beezie and Kent and quite a few people behind me," she said. "I was really hoping to finish in the top six, and I was hoping to be double clear. Ben beat me by a lot, he beat me by three seconds. It wasn't like he just beat me. I am really proud of her. I did the inside turns, the one back on the vertical, and she handled that well. I am just thrilled. Her owners are here and they have been long-time supporters of me. Their last grand prix horse was Anthem, so I know they are so excited."

Commenting on Maher's great success, Kraut noted, "He rides great, he has super horses and he deserves to win the classes that he has won. I would like to have a shot to try to beat him at some point. I will get Cedric revved up here here hopefully at some point and we will give it a shot, but at this level you appreciate the superior riding and horses. He and Scott (Brash) are so impressive. It is going to raise the level of riding here. To have number one and number two in the world is just a great opportunity for WEF and for all of the riders here."

In third, Cian O'Connor was jumping Adena Springs' Quidam's Cherie, a nine-year-old Oldenburg mare by Quidam's Rubin x Lifestyle, that the rider has only been partnered with since December.

"I got Cherie in middle of December and did one show before coming here," O'Connor explained. "With her previous rider she did 2* grand prixs in Germany, so she is very green. That is the brilliant thing about coming to this festival is that the horses really get mileage, you get experience. I jumped her in the Nations Cup the other night, and she jumped a very good clear in the first round. She was a little tired in the second round and then I gave her a day off yesterday to freshen up, and she really jumped her heart out today."

"I am very excited about her because it has been a while since I have had a horse as talented as that," O'Connor said. "She is so careful and I am just going to drop her down and move her up and not do too much because it is hard when you only have one horse like that. You really want to spare them, and I am looking forward to a good year with her."

On behalf of Wellington Equestrian Realty, Craig Martin spoke about Sunday's fantastic class and his company's continued support of equestrian sport in Wellington.

"Wellington Equestrian Realty, we really love sponsoring this class," Martin stated. "I have known Ben for a long time since he was a young fellow. He is definitely a tactician of the sport, and I would love to congratulate him on his win. Congratulations to Laura and Cian as well. The show for us is a very important part of our whole marketing strategy. The way that we feel the direction the show is going, it is only getting bigger and better. It is definitely, without a doubt, one of the best horse shows in the world."

Several special awards were also presented during Sunday's Grand prix. In memory of Niall Grimes, the "CHEERS" perpetual trophy was awarded to Cian O'Connor as the top Irish rider during the CSIO, Nations Cup week.

Brazil's Alvaro 'Doda' de Miranda was presented with the Kate Nash Boone Style Award, a perpetual trophy presented by Michael Meller, friends and family to honor the memory of Kate's support and love of "all things equestrian."

Beezie Madden (USA) also earned a special award as the Leading Lady Grand Prix Rider for week eight, an award presented by Martha Jolicoeur of Illustrated Properties in memory of Dale Lawler. 

For full results, please visit