85 years later...

The Royal Horse Show held as part of The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto is currently underway and this year is celebrating its 85th birthday. Consisting of ten full days of equestrian talent and competition, the show is also witness to the last FEI World Cup™ qualifier for the Canadian League to earn the all important points towards the Rolex FEI World Cup™ Final next April in Goteborg, Sweden.

The winner of this last Canadian League qualifier is none other than eight-time Olympian Ian Millar. As the first to return for the jump-off, Millar set a blistering pace of 40.63 seconds, taking a daring inside turn to fence number nine.

"I did the inside turn to number nine which was a desperate turn and no one else tried it. I didn't like it, and there is nothing worse than doing something like that and seeing someone else win by going around. Tonight it worked out but on another night, it could have just as easily not worked out," explained Millar.

As the final challenger, 27 year old Erynn Ballard (CAN) riding Robin Van Roosendael took the safer but surer route and left all bars intact in a time of 45.29 seconds to finish as the runner-up.

"I knew my horse wasn't as fast as Ian's and not that handy, so my strategy was to stay clean," said Ballard.

Young Dutchman Piet Raijmakers Jr. had a bar down with Van Schijndel's Rascin to place third while veteran British rider Nick Skelton and the eight-year-old french-bred horse, Le Prestige St. Lois, knocked down the double combination to incur eight faults. Eric Lamaze (CAN) attempted a very tight turn with his impressive new horse, Sadin, which resulted in a refusal, leaving him in fifth place overall.