Canada’s Eric Lamaze scored his first win of the 2017 competition season, taking victory in the $35,000 Ruby et Violette WEF Challenge Cup Round III held Thursday, January 26, at the Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, FL. A total of 80 starters attempted the track set by course designer Luc Musette of Belgium with 15 producing clear rounds to qualify for the jump-off. Lamaze’s last victory came in the €300,000 Rolex Top Ten Final in Geneva, Switzerland, in December, where Musette was also the course designer. Lamaze once again found his way to victory over the shortened jump-off course for the WEF Challenge Cup Round III, leaving all the rails in place and stopping the clock in 40.55 seconds to push U.S. Olympic team silver medalist Leslie Howard into second with a time of 41.38 riding Gentille van Spieveld. Lamaze’s winning mount was Houston, a ten-year-old grey Belgian Warmblood stallion (Heartbreaker x Corofino) owned by Andy and Carlene Ziegler’s Artisan Farms. “Houston is an up and coming horse that is part of the Artisan Farms team of horses,” said Lamaze, who added an individual bronze in Rio to the individual gold and team silver medals he won at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. “He’s a horse that really came on strong towards the end of the year last year and did some great things. He’s got all the talent in the world. When you have a string of horses that can go fast, like Fine Lady and Rosana du Park, he never truly had a chance to show off last year, but he was getting some great mileage at a lot of competitions. This is his time to step up, and we couldn’t be happier with how he’s coming along.” Leslie Howard and Gentille van Spieveld (Heartbreaker) followed as runner-up while Molly Ash completed the stage aboard Audi's Dimpe. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL RESULTS
