Edited press release from Spruce Meadows

The first day of the Spruce Meadows 'North American' Tournament began on Wednesday with a wet and rainy morning, though the cold and damp weather didn't have any effect on Israel's Ashlee Bond and Contefina LVF (Contefino x South Pacific).

A large entry of over thirty horse-and-rider combinations took to the field today for the 1.45m Trimac cup, over a course designed by FEI course designer Peter Grant (CAN). The one round competition featured 11 obstacles and 13 jumping efforts, and a time allowed of 75 seconds. 

Bond and Contefina LVF navigated the track through the rain with ease, beginning one last week of September Series competitions at Spruce Meadows with a great trip. This is the first FEI 5* win for Bond during the September Series, though she's been placing in the ribbons for quite a few of her competitions. Today's win has to have Bond feeling excited for the remainder of the competition, with many more opportunities for her step into the winner's circle in the International Ring.

Almost two seconds behind Bond followed Katie Laurie (AUS) on Cera Caruso (Casall x Capone), while third place went to Brian Morton (CAN) on Cadillac (Corlensky G x El Bundy I) who was four seconds slower than the winners.

The first day of the Spruce Meadows 'North American', presented by Rolex, started with a win from Jordan Coyle (IRL) and Ariso (Casall x Contender) in the TC Energy Cup.

The 1.50m course, designed by Peter Grant (CAN), had a time allowed of 76 seconds over a 505m track. Eight horses and riders qualified for the jump-off, which had a 53 second time allowed, and saw four athletes go clear: Carlos Hank Gueirrero (MEX), Nayel Nassar (EGY), Matthew Sampson (GBR), and, of course, Coyle. Fastest was Coyle who posted a time of 38.94, beating Matthew Sampson (GBR) and Ebolensky (Clinton x Heartbreaker) by 1.83 seconds. Third place went to Nayel Nassar and Coronado (Cassini I x Acord II), while Carlos Hank Gueirrero finished fourth aboard H5 Jemousin van den Dael (Vivaldi du Seigneur x Lipton). 

While the footing held up great against the steady rainfall throughout the day, many riders were distracted by rain. Coyle, though, was not particularly bothered by the soggy weather. 

"I don't mind the rain, I come from the rain," he told reporters, smiling. Following his win, he spoke more to his previous performances at Spruce Meadows. "Last year, or two years ago, when I was here, I said "If you don't win the first day, you can't win them all", and I was lucky enough to win them all that year."