From a Starting Gate Communications' press release

Canadian Olympic champion Eric Lamaze has continued to expand his Torrey Pines Stable horse sales and breeding business, augmented by support from owners Mark and Tara Rein.

Lamaze has been steadily building a large string of sales prospects as well as establishing a breeding program at his Torrey Pines Stable with bases in Écaussinnes, BEL, and Wellington, FL. To that end, he has purchased three more interesting prospects in partnership with the Rein family.

Cacao JMG is an eight-year-old bay Holsteiner stallion by Contagio that was bred in Spain. When Spanish rider and owner Gonzalo Busca Roca stopped over at Lamaze’s Belgian training base between shows, the horse immediately caught the three-time Olympic medalist’s eye.

“He’s stunning to look at, intelligent, and extremely careful with lots of scope,” said Lamaze. “I loved him from the moment I got on him. When I tried him, I said, ‘This is my kind of horse!’ Since we’ve started to get into breeding quite heavily, I gave Mark a call to say that this would be a great addition to our program. It’s very hard not to like this horse.”

The other two additions to the Torrey Pines Stable sales program are Val de Vauxelles Z and Quatarina. Both horses were suggested to Lamaze by Tonya Knüsting (née Henning), a Canadian rider now based in Germany. Val de Vauxelles Z is a nine-year-old bay Zangersheide gelding (Va Vite x Toulon) while Quatarina is an 11-year-old Holsteiner mare (Quidam de Revel x Cassicor).

“Tonya brought the nine-year-old over to see what I thought of it,” recounted Lamaze. “The first day she rode I didn’t think much of him; I thought he was a nice 1.40m horse. The second day we put the fences up and we seemed to wake something up inside of him; he started to fly! He was scopey, careful, and had an attitude of plus 10. I couldn’t believe my eyes! The third day, I got on him myself and he gave me the best feeling. He’s like a little pony that gets into gear and is completely fearless.”

While Lamaze has been keeping his competition schedule to a minimum due to health concerns posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, he plans to compete at CSI3* Aachen, GER, from September 3 to 6 with his Tokyo Olympic prospect, Dieu Merci van T&L, and Chacco Kid. “It will be so refreshing to go to a show with professional management that is looking out for the health and safety of its competitors,” said Lamaze, who has been outspoken about the lack of health protocols at some European show jumping events this summer. “I thank Frank Kemperman for all of his efforts. We’re looking forward to a great week of sport in Aachen this week.”