“Dixson had two surgeries for melanomas in his sinuses and the recovery is lengthy,” said Millar, who was forced to miss the Rio 2016 Olympic Games due to Dixson’s surgery, but was able to return to competition in late August. “They got them surgically, and really believe everything is good and can optimistically say that, ‘That’s it, that’s all. It should never be a problem again.’”
After winning the initial speed phase on Nov. 4 in a time of 59.41 seconds, Millar and Dixson (Vigo D’Arsouilles x Olisco), a 13-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by Susan and Ariel Grange, returned on Nov. 5 and sailed around to another clear. This secured their spot in the top six invited back for a shortened final track set by 2016 Royal Horse Show course designer, Bernardo Cabral (FEI 4*) of Portugal.
The last to enter the ring in the final round, the pressure was on Millar to keep all the rails up after fellow Canadian Olympian, Mac Cone of King City, ON added a third clear round to his championship streak. Despite a slight rub early in the course that had the capacity crowd in the Ricoh Coliseum on the edge of their seats, Millar and Dixson left all the rails in the cups to keep their perfect score of zero intact.
“Mac sure rose to the occasion and put the heat solidly on me, and there was no option but to do what Dixson did,” said Millar. “In the years I’ve been riding Dixson, I’ve never jumped him indoors because he always has a break right after Spruce Meadows. He handles indoors beautifully. It’s just not an issue for him. It’s great to have this quality of horse here at The Royal.”
The championship followed the FEI World Cup scoring format, with the initial speed phase converting jumping faults to added time, and penalties being applied for every second a horse-rider combination went over the winner’s time. Regular jumping and time faults were then added cumulatively during the two-part final phase on Nov. 5. This allowed Millar to be the only one of the 17 entries to finish on a perfect score of zero.
Cone, who was partnered with Gasper van den Doorn (Calvaro x Larome), a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion owned by Chardburn Holdings Inc., settled for the Reserve Championship title on a final score of 1.73 penalties - added after his sixth place finish in a time of 62.87 seconds in the phase one speed class. Impressively, Cone also rode Gasper van den Doorn to a second place finish overall in the 2015 championship.
Hyde Moffatt from Brampton, ON rounded out the top three on a final score of 4.45 penalties aboard Granturo (Canturo x Kashmir van Schuttershof), a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by Western Sales and Development. After lowering one rail to finish ninth in the speed phase, Moffatt made his impressive leap up the standings after back-to-back clears in phase two.