“These types of classes are good for Chacco,” explained Lamaze. “He’s naturally fast so you don’t really feel like you’re actually pushing him to be fast. It’s just his natural way of going. He’s a very quick horse, and I like these classes to set up for the grand prix with him. It’s nice to get his lungs opened up a bit and give him a nice gallop around the ring.”
Lamaze, currently ranked twenty-third in the world, has recently returned from a few weeks of competition in Doha, Qatar, which included a third-place finish in the CSI5* grand prix. He left Chacco in the hands of his team in Wellington and is excited to close out the rest of WEF with the talented gelding.
“I returned here to some fresh horses,” said Lamaze. “We have a person that rides him on the flat that did a great job. He had jumped enough by that point [week 7], so he just needed to keep going while I was in Doha. My other horses stayed in Europe, so Chacco is going to be the leading horse until the Rolex Grand Prix [week 11]. I’m happy to be back. These types of classes are hard to win because people are sometimes trying to make their horse fast. I’m lucky that mine is naturally fast so I just follow the turns and shorten up a few things and very often he ends up being at the top of the class.”The winning combination also picked up a victory in the same class on January 13 as part of WEF 1. Their success in the show ring is often in the speed format which is quite the opposite to the personality of the little horse outside the International Arena.