Press release from Spruce Meadows Media

The sun was shining for the final day of the 2019 Spruce Meadows 'Continental' CSI5*, presented by Rolex. The 'Continental' Grand Prix, presented by Rolex challenged forty-two horse-and-rider combinations through a big technical track designed by FEI Course Designer Michel Vaillancourt (CAN). The 540m track featured fourteen obstacles and seventeen efforts including the newly designed open water jump and liver pool at Meadows on the Green.

World number 1 Steve Guerdat (SUI) was the first clear round of the competition after twenty-nine riders before him failed to finish fault free. Six other clear rounds would soon follow including Canadians Eric Lamaze and Mario Deslauriers. Guerdat was first to take on the jump-off track putting pressure on the rest of the field with a clear round in a time of 38.67s riding Venard de Cerisy (Open Up Semilly x Djalisco du Guet). Lamaze knew what he had to do when he stepped in to the ring on his Olympic medal winning mount Fine Lady 5 (Forsyth FRH x Drosselklang II). He laid down a clear round with a time three one hundredths of a second faster than Guerdat. Deslauriers was also in it to win it but was two one hundredths of a second slower to finish in second place aboard Amsterdam 27 (Catoki x Acord II). Lamaze scored his second Grand Prix win of the 2019 Spruce Meadows Summer Series.

 "Today's jump-off was really good - it really was anybody's win," Eric Lamaze commented on his second Grand Prix win of the 2019 Spruce Meadows Summer Series.