Rolex Top 10 Final will have Olympic Champion Eric Lamaze of Canada returning to the show jumping arena. Eric Lamaze will return to the Rolex Top 10 Final after finishing second in the Paris Gucci Masters featured event that took place on Friday, 3rd of December at Parris in France. The top ten riders in the Rolex World Rider Rankings will be seen going through tough competition over two rounds in the Rolex Top 10 Final.

The number one position holder in the Rolex World Rankings since June 2011, Lamaze created two rounds riding Coriana van Klapscheut. The second round time of 48.25 seconds, producing two clear rounds so far. The only competitor to produce two clear rounds after Lamaze was Ireland’s Billy Twomey, who was riding Tinka’s Serenade and was at a marginal time of  48.03 seconds. On the other hand Germany’s Ludger Beerbaum made mistakes in the second round to place third riding Gotha FRH.

The event is regarded a prestigious one and the main highlight after Gucci Grand Prix in Paris as acclaimed by the Rolex Top 10 Final Lamaze. Gucci Grand Prix is the event that takes place every year at different indoor show jumping venues. Lamaze also said that if one wants to participate in such events the horse needs to have done some of the bigger 1.60m grand prix events, but as he was riding Coriana which has only done 1.50m speed events before and not the ones like Rolex Top 10 Final. Though, Coriana was successful in jumping at the event comfortably. Coriana van Klapscheut is nine years speedy horse, old Belgian Warmblood mare owned by Artisan Farms in partnership with Lamaze’s Torrey Pines Stable.

Since Lamaze had lost his Olympic gold medal partner, Hickstead it will be Lamaze’s first European appearance marked by the CSI5* Paris Gucci Masters. Hickstead malformed and died of an acute aortic rupture causing heart failure after completing the four fault round in the World Cup Grand Prix at Verona in Italy, on November six. Since then Lamaze has not participated in the jumping tournament and this will be his first European show at Paris. Earlier he was competing in the at Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair after which the tragedy took place. It will definitely not be an easy task for Lamaze, but he has all the support of the other layers with him.

It is also speculated, whether Lamaze will find another Olympic-calibre horse to enter the championship as the horses competing in the 2012 London Olympics should be owned by the country to represent by December 31, 2011. Lamaze will be competing and riding Coriana van Klapscheut at the Gucci Grand Prix taking place on Sunday. He will also be a part of the CSI5*-W Geneva in Switzerland that will take place from 8 December till 11December before he returns to the winter season in North America.

Lamaze will also be seen competing throughout the Winter Equestrian Festival. It is a twelve week show jumping circuit that takes place in Wellington, Florida attracting best show jumping competitors globally.

After completing the 13-jump course as a part of the fourth leg of the Rolex Federation Equestre Internationale World Cup, Eric Lamaze’s Hickstead collapsed and died. Eric Lamaze was ranked as the No. 1 show jumper in the world by the Rolex rankings. This was for the third time that Eric Lamaze was declared as the No. 1 show jumper in Rolex rankings. The Rolex Federation Equestre Internationale World Cup was being held in Italy, on Sunday. Hickstead and his rider Eric Lamaze had completed a flawless round of show jumping till Hickstead crashed to the ground under his rider and breathed his last in the ring. Spectators all over the grandstand watched the incident in absolute horror and were feeling extremely sorry for the beautiful stallion. Hickstead was considered to be one of the top athletes in Canada.

Eric Lamaze had won an individual gold and silver medal for his Canadian team with the stallion at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Hickstead looked absolutely fine after it had started losing its strength in its legs and almost started giving up as it started to walk unsteadily. This was quite evident during its jumps between two brightly colored jumps in the arena in Verona. A Dutch Warmblood, Hickstead was carried out of the ring as soon as he died. Both Eric Lamaze, Hickstead’s rider for a long time and John Fleischacker and his family, who co-own the horse disagreed to talk to the press. Tonya Henning, a 26 year Canadian grand prix rider said that Hickstead was born to compete and win. Tonya Henning owns Mill Creek Stables in Cambridge, Ontario. She said that she was previously trained under Eric Lamaze. Tonya Henning said that Hickstead was known for his intense and active demeanor in the ring. He was always ready to be as bad as the rider wants him to be – added the 26 year old Canadian.

Experts believe that Hickstead was the trump card for Eric Lamaze. The stallion was responsible to shoot up Eric Lamaze’s career to the next level. He was declared as the no. 1 show jumper in the world in the Rolex rankings last summer just above Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and the American Olympian Mclain Ward. Hickstead’s death was a dramatic one as he lay shaking on his back with hooves trembling in the air for several minutes. The incident was not only witnessed by the thousands and thousands of spectators in the grandstand, but it was also broadcast on television and on Federation Equestre Internationale’s website also. The video spread like a fire in the internet. An autopsy is still pending on Hickstead’s death. However, Karyn Malinowski, the director of the Equine Science Center at Rutgers University in New Jersey said that immense coronary. According to him, horse is a natural blood doper. So, when it is engaged in an athletic event, it automatically dumps tons of red blood cells into the bloodstream. This is what makes a horse a wonderful athlete. AT the same time, due to this increase in blood formation, the blood does become thicker, and if the horse was prone to a weakened heart, it might have burst out.

On the request of the competitors, the show jumping World Cup competition has been suspended for this Sunday. Princess Haya bint al-Hussein of Jordan, the president of the federation, said that Hickstead’s death was a terrible loss.

Canadian show jumper Eric Lamaze, who recently finished on the second spot in the Rolex FEI World Cup Final along with Coriana van Klapscheut secured their third win within a week after they took out the €23,000 Prix Groupe Lucien Barriere in France. The pair has enjoyed two wins in the previous week when they competed at CSI5* Valencia, Spain. On the 7th of May, Eric Lamaze along with his nine-year-old Belgian Warmblood mount (Darco x Heartbreaker) was victorious in the €23,000 Trofeo Iberia. After that they went back to the City of Arts and Sciences on the 8th of May, and won the €23,000 Trofeo Repsol. The streak continued as just after a week Eric Lamaze along with Coriana secured a spot in the winner’s circle after their triumph in the€23,000 Prix Groupe Lucien Barriere.  The duo has been able to post the quickest timing in the speed competition with just 41.70 seconds. They held back French favorite Roger Yves Bost who carefully guided Nikyta d’Elle to the finish in 41.79 seconds. Eric Lamaze praised his horse Coriana who he has been riding for Artisan Farms since the year 2009. He feels that Coriana can be used very well in the speed classes as well as the grand prix classes. She has already been victorious twice in Valencia and has continued her impressive performance.

In the €200,000 Longines Grand Prix that will take place on Sunday, Eric Lamaze will be riding Hickstead who has been his Individual Gold Medal partner in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Earlier last week, the duo was placed on the fourth position in the €23,000 1.50m Prix de Conseil General de Loire Atlantique. As of now Eric Lamaze is quite happy with his journey between the Rolex FEI World Cup Final and La Baule. Also enjoying success is Caitlin Ziegler who is Eric Lamaze’s student.

The 16 year old rider from America is competing in the European continent for the first time in her career and has enjoyed quite impressive results.  The European Youngster Cup which is bestowed upon the riders who are aged 25 and below was held in concurrence with the 2011 Rolex FEI World Cup Final. Caitlin Ziegler was placed on the third position overall which made her the top North American finisher.

Caitlin Ziegler was also placed on the second spot in the Trofeo Valencia. She jumped at a height of about 1.40m with her new mount, Butragenia, and was placed on the third place in the Grand Premio de Valencia Trofeo Nespresso with her horse Herald 3. As she arrived in France, Caitlin Ziegler enjoyed a win on the very first day of competition at La Baule and won the CSI2* Prix Casino Lucien Barriere with Butragenia who is a 10 year old Belgian Warmblood mare. Caitlin Ziegler stated that her experience in Europe was incredible as she was thrilled to have her first European victory under her belt.

Canadian rider Eric Lamaze, who finished second in Rolex World Cup Grand Prix last year, will be representing his country at FEI World Cup Jumping Final 2011 that will take place in Leipzig, Germany. Eric Lamaze has been able to accumulate 44 points in the qualifying season on two mounts Hickstead, who is a Dutch Warmblood stallion and 15 years old and 11 year old Atlete Van T Heike who is a Belgian Warmblood mare. Eric Lamaze, riding Hickstead who was his Olympics partner, secured second position in €200,000 purse event at CSI5*-W Geneva in Geneva, Switzerland and got 17 world cup points. He also got to third spot in the CN Performance Grand Prix with a purse of $100,000 during CSI4*-W Spruce Meadows “Continental” tournament that took place in Calgary. He also rode Atlete Van T Heike in WEF World Cup Qualifier during CSI4*-W WEF 9 in Florida with a prize money of $231,000. He qualified the horse for the finals of world cup at Leipzig Exhibition Center from the 27th of April to the first of May.

The final will be attended by the competitors from 14 leagues. A speed class will be the first leg of the competition on 28th of April. The scores of the riders will be carried forward to the competition on Friday. Two third of the top competitors will then move to the 2 round final that is scheduled to take place on Sunday. Leipzig will also host a CSI2* for riders aged 16 to 26 which will be known as European Youngster (EY) Cup. For the first time Canada will send their representative for the game. 21 year old David Arcand, of Mont Royal, Quebec was able to earn a spot at European Youngster Cup after finishing 3rd in Artisan Farms Young Rider Series. It consisted of 3 Artisan Farms Young Rider Grand Prix classes along with Artisan Farms $20,000 Young Rider Team competition which was held during FTI Winter Equestrian Festival scheduled in Florida. The European Youngster Cup will consist of speed rounds that will take place on 27th April on Wednesday and April 28th on Thursday. The finale will be a Table A and there will be a timed jump off on 29th as well.

David Arcand will be bringing back Catwalk 19 whose owner is Stall Tjeert Rijkens. His mount is an 8 year-old Holstiener who will be his mount in the competition because Santos Utopia was sold recently. David Arcand thanked Stall Tjeert Rijkens for lending him the horse for the competition and said that he was honored. He also praised his horse and said that he is a very healthy and a good looking horse. It is David Arcand’s first competition in Europe and according to him it is a great opportunity for him and will be a great experience.

The Rolex FEI World Cup Qualifier in Switzerland was a special ceremony for Eric Lamaze, who is a show jumper hailing from Canada. It was at this ceremony that he was awarded the title of “Owner of the Year�. This is the third consecutive year when he has received this award. He was not the only one to receive this award as his bay stallion co-owner John Fleischhacker joined him to receive the honor. The titles were given by the Jumping Owners Club to the owners of Hickstead, which is the 14 year old stallion of Eric Lamaze and John Fleischhacker.

The winner of the award, Eric Lamaze is from Canada and was born in Montreal, Quebec. His stint with show jumping began at an early age when Diane Dubuc taught him the intricacies of the game. Both of them used to spend hours together to learn new skills and this is what led him to win this prestigious award three times. Eric Lamaze was a part of the team from Canada in the Summer Olympics for the year 1996.

“Owner of the Year� award was presented to Eric Lamaze by dignitaries like the chairman of the Jumping Owners Club, Christian Baillet and Jean-Noel Bioul from the Rolex SA. According to the chairman of the club, the association between the Canadian show jumper Eric Lamaze and Hickstead has been amazing and this can clearly be seen in the form of the awards they have been getting for three years in a row. The “Owner of the Year� award means a lot and is given to celebrate and recognize the extraordinary successes in show jumping. Christian Baillet wished both of them and gave his best wishes on their win for the third consecutive time in the year 2010.

In the year 2010, Eric and Hickstead have performed well and worked hard to retain their position as the best and the most successful horse owners and riders. They have been in full form and this is what has helped them attain success. These awards are given every year by the Jumping Owners Club that came into being in the year 2005. The members of this organization are all international owners and the main aim of this organization is to raise the popularity of horse racing around the world. They want more people to be a part of it and thus promote racing through these awards to encourage people to come forward and participate.

The Rolex Rankings that are calculated during the calendar year are the basis of deciding over the points that one gets. This, in turn, helps in finding out the best and the most successful owner of the year. The person is then awarded with the International Owner of the Year Award to acknowledge his good work in the field. In the year 2004 and 2005, these awards were given to people like John, Lisa Hales and Pat for Arko III. In the year 2006, the award went to Mrs. Serena Hamberg for the Sixth Sense and in the year 2007, Shutterfly by Mrs. Nancy Clark was the one to receive the award.