Canada – and Tottenham’s Ballard – take Home BMO Cup

September 16, 2021 · 0 Comments

By Robert Belardi

Tottenham native Erynn Ballard, along with Tiffany Foster, Eric Lamaze and Amy Millar, were the heart and soul as together they led Canada to the BMO Nations’ Cup at Spruce Meadows “Masters.”

The show-jumping team, took home a $600,000 purse on September 11 in Calgary, marking their third time in history.

Canada trumped Ireland, Mexico and the United States en-route to claiming top prize.

Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, only these teams were permitted to compete. However, every nation was allowed to bring out a second team with the first.

“We felt we could put together two competitive teams, so we jumped at the opportunity. It’s hard to get invitations to jump in a Nations’ Cup, even at the three-star level. We showed we do have depth as our second team was one fault away from being second,” chef d’equipe of the Canadian Show Jumping Team Mark Laskin said in a statement.

“Nations’ Cups are hard. It has to be your day, but it also has to not be the other teams’ day. I was quite confident, but you just never know. So much has come together. When it works, there is no sweeter feeling. And it’s the most fun to win at Spruce Meadows. It’s home.”

Canada 2, who finished just shy of the first team, consisted of Mario Deslauriers, local Calgary native Brian Morton, BC native Samantha Buirs-Darvill, and the other local Calgary native Ben Asselin riding anchor.

Canada earned their victory with eight faults in two rounds of play. In second came the United States with 15 faults and Canada 2 team finished with 16 faults.

Mexico finished with 32 faults for fourth spot and Ireland came in fifth with 44 faults.