Tiffany Foster (CAN) and Inge Carton's former, Electrique (Emerald x Voltaire) closed out Major League Show Jumping Ottawa (CAN) with a win in the CSI5* 1.60m $182,000 RBC Grand Prix. Electrique was bred and produced by Belgium's Inge Carton.
A total of 36 horse-and-rider-combinations took to the grass grand prix field at Welsey Clover Parks to tackle the track set by German course designer Olaf Petersen Jr. Seven pairs jumped clear to advance to the jump-off but in the end, only two managed to once again leave all the rails in place. Foster set the standard by jumping clear in a time of 41.34 seconds and while American Bliss Heers also left all the rails in place, she did it in a slower time of 43.52 seconds riding Quality Star Z (Quality Time TN x Cash). Remarkably Quality Star Z was previously also competed by Inge Carton!
It was an all-female podium with Erynn Ballard (CAN) taking third with the fastest four-fault effort in a time of 39.24 seconds riding Gakhir (Spartacus TN x Indorado) for owner Ilan Ferder. Two Irish riders followed in the final standings with Michael Duffy and Clitschko 17 (Christian x Check In) taking fourth and Conor Swail placing fifth riding My Lady Lavista (Mylord Carthago x Levisto Z).
Heers, who hails from Las Vegas, NV, was thrilled with her second-place finish riding Quality Star Z, an 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding (Quality Time TN x Cash) that her Bridgeside Farms LLC purchased at the end of 2023.
“I'm really happy to be sitting here with these two amazing riders,” said Heers, speaking at the post-event press conference. “I love my horse, and he loves big grass rings. Olaf builds scopey and technical. It was a really nice course.”
For third-place finisher Ballard, who has also recently returned from making her Olympic debut in Paris, the homecoming to Canada couldn’t have been sweeter.
“This is a show that I've been coming to my entire life,” said Ballard, who is the daughter of professional horsemen David and Sandi Ballard. “I rode here when I was a kid on ponies and now I'm riding here in five-star grands prix. I can remember walking across the bridge from the stabling area on Sundays to watch the biggest class of the week, when you used to watch Ian Millar and Big Ben, and it was so cool. Now there are little kids walking across that same bridge to watch us. It's such an exciting thing for us to be able to give back and give the fans that same experience that I grew up with here at Ottawa.”
A total of 36 horse-and-rider-combinations took to the grass grand prix field at Welsey Clover Parks to tackle the track set by German course designer Olaf Petersen Jr. Seven pairs jumped clear to advance to the jump-off but in the end, only two managed to once again leave all the rails in place. Foster set the standard by jumping clear in a time of 41.34 seconds and while American Bliss Heers also left all the rails in place, she did it in a slower time of 43.52 seconds riding Quality Star Z (Quality Time TN x Cash). Remarkably Quality Star Z was previously also competed by Inge Carton!
It was an all-female podium with Erynn Ballard (CAN) taking third with the fastest four-fault effort in a time of 39.24 seconds riding Gakhir (Spartacus TN x Indorado) for owner Ilan Ferder. Two Irish riders followed in the final standings with Michael Duffy and Clitschko 17 (Christian x Check In) taking fourth and Conor Swail placing fifth riding My Lady Lavista (Mylord Carthago x Levisto Z).
Heers, who hails from Las Vegas, NV, was thrilled with her second-place finish riding Quality Star Z, an 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding (Quality Time TN x Cash) that her Bridgeside Farms LLC purchased at the end of 2023.
“I'm really happy to be sitting here with these two amazing riders,” said Heers, speaking at the post-event press conference. “I love my horse, and he loves big grass rings. Olaf builds scopey and technical. It was a really nice course.”
For third-place finisher Ballard, who has also recently returned from making her Olympic debut in Paris, the homecoming to Canada couldn’t have been sweeter.
“This is a show that I've been coming to my entire life,” said Ballard, who is the daughter of professional horsemen David and Sandi Ballard. “I rode here when I was a kid on ponies and now I'm riding here in five-star grands prix. I can remember walking across the bridge from the stabling area on Sundays to watch the biggest class of the week, when you used to watch Ian Millar and Big Ben, and it was so cool. Now there are little kids walking across that same bridge to watch us. It's such an exciting thing for us to be able to give back and give the fans that same experience that I grew up with here at Ottawa.”