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Fancy Finish at the Spruce Meadows "May Classic"

May 9, 2009

Calgary, AB --- There were 18 jumping efforts, a time allowed of 91 seconds on a course that spanned over 530 metres for this afternoon’s $10,000 CN Cup. If course designer Werner Deeg (GER) wanted to separate the best from the rest this course was perfect.

Time faults and rails were costing almost every rider in the ring a chance at the CN Cup. Things started looking up when Victoria BC native Liz Ashton rode Fancy Hill into the ring. Ashton navigated the course perfectly coming across the finish line in 89.31 seconds. That clear put her in a comfortable position as she watched the next 19 entries fail to match her.

Last into the ring today was another BC girl, Andrea Strain. Strain was riding Luigi, a 9 year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding. Strain and Luigi came around the course clear and as they crossed the finish line all eyes were on the clock, it finally stopped at 90.86 seconds. They were barely under the time allowed but that didn’t matter because there was now a jump-off.

The jump-off course was again lengthy with 9 jumping efforts over 410 metres. Liz Ashton was first in. Ashton kept the gas on as she sailed around the course finishing clear in a time of 53.22 seconds. If Andrea Strain wanted to beat her provincial rival she would have to be even quicker.

Strain and Luigi looked perfect as the made the gallop to the last fence. They were fast but that speed ended up costing them the last rail and the CN Cup. Today it was Liz Ashton and Fancy Hill who finished ahead of the competition.

Tomorrow is the final day of the 2009 Spruce Meadows “May Classic” Tournament. The feature competition is the $17,500 Scotiabank Cup which is also the final competition before the Summer Series. The 1.40m competition will feature the top athletes of the week.

CN Cup top 10 –

1-         Liz Ashton                             CAN               Fancy Hill II
2-         Andrea Strain                                    CAN               Luigi
3-         Tamie Phillips                       CAN               Santos
4-         JJ Atkinson                             USA                Rambo
5-         Tamie Phillips                       CAN               Lucas
6-         John Anderson                      CAN               Terrific
7-         Lisa Carlsen                           CAN               Woody
8-         Jaclyn Duff                             CAN               Sebastiaan
9-         Femke Van den Bosch         CAN               Tom Tom
10-       Carla Diewert                                    CAN               Vaquero

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