Opening weekend’s two defending Champions returned to the winner’s circle tonight at the Royal Horse Show, taking the Good Crop Services Indoor Eventing and the Canadian Show Jumping Championships presented by Greenhawk titles in front of an electric, near-capacity crowd at the Ricoh Coliseum.
Waylon Roberts of Port Perry, Ontario, took the Good Crop Services Indoor Eventing Championship for an astonishing fifth time in six years, and Caledon, Ontario’s Yann Candele claimed the Canadian Show Jumping Championships presented by Greenhawk following a nail-biting two-round jumping test tonight which saw the last five horses separated by just four points heading into the final round.
New Zealand’s eventing legend and double Olympic Gold medalist Mark Todd, who had a disappointing first round in the Indoor Eventing series last night, threw down the gauntlet by jumping clean and fast tonight and very nearly took the title from the Roberts’ family, including unseating Waylon’s father Ian Roberts, who had been in the lead heading into tonight’s final round.
“Tonight my horse just rose to the challenge,” said Waylon Roberts following his victory lap. “Last night was a night to feel it out, see how he would respond to the ring and the atmosphere, and after that I knew I could push him a bit tonight. I was really hoping for the Roberts’ to finish first and second though!” he laughed.
Second went to Michele Mueller with Amistad, also of Port Perry, Ontario, and New Zealand’s Mark Todd jumped into third riding Trudy Atrens’ horse Charley Farley.
Tonight’s Horse Show was capped by the second and third rounds of the Canadian Show Jumping Championships presented by Greenhawk, in which Yann Candele performed faultlessly round after round to finish the competition with no faults whatsoever. His equine partner, owned by Susan Grange, certainly lived up to his name “Game Ready”, besting an exceptional field containing Olympians and past Canadian Champions including Ian Millar, Beth Underhill, Jay Hayes and Jill Henselwood.
“The idea of this Championship is that after each round, more and more pressure is put on the rider in the lead,” explained Candele. “It got to the point tonight where the last riders were so close together, no matter what happened I had to jump clean. If Ian and Angela had had just one rail, it would have changed the whole character of the night.”
Tomorrow brings The Ontario Toyota Dealers Royal Rodeo back to the Ricoh Coliseum, where the best from the East and West go head-to-head in the most extreme sports of bull riding, bronc riding and barrel racing. Tickets are still available through Ticketmaster or can be purchased at the gate.
The International division for show jumpers begins Tuesday, November 8th, once again bringing top competitors from Canada, the USA and Europe together to compete through Saturday, November 12th.
Good Crop Services Indoor Eventing Championship – Final Results
Rider / Hometown / Horse
1 Waylon Roberts / Port Perry, ON / Evil Munchkin
2 Michele Mueller / Port Perry, ON / Amistad
3 Mark Todd / New Zealand / Charley Farley
4 Ian Roberts / Port Perry, ON / Viper
5 Selena O’Hanlon / Elgin, ON / Rather Breezy
Canadian Show Jumping Championships Presented by Greenhawk – Final Results
Rider / Hometown / Horse / Final Total Score
1 Yann Candele / Caledon, ON / Game Ready / 0
2 Angela Covert-Lawrence / St. Lazare, Quebec / Unica Van de Roashoeve / 0
3 Ian Millar / Perth, ON / Dryden / 0
4 Beth Underhill / Schomberg, ON / Viggo / 0
5 Hugh Graham / Schomberg, ON / Fifth Estate 3E / 0
