Peter Lutz Takes Second in ‘Pan American’ Grand Prix CSI5* at Spruce Meadows
In the feature event of the ‘Pan American’ tournament at the Spruce Meadows show grounds in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Brazil’s Pedro Veniss and the 13-year-old Selle Francais stallion Quabri de L’Isle (Kannan x Socrate de Chivre) took home the red ribbon with a memorable performance in the ‘Pan American’ Grand Prix CSI5*.
On Sunday, July, 2, 2017, Veniss joined a field of 37 competitors to compete aboard the 1.60m course designed by Canada’s Peter Grant. The course proved to be difficult and unforgiving, with only 3 riders moving forward to the jump off.
“I was quite happy with the course today and I thought there was good rhythm and flow,” said Grant. “I think the lines all jumped as I expected them to, and the group in today’s Grand Prix was by far the strongest I have built for. I would have liked to see perhaps one or two more in the jump off, but the biggest thing for me is that the horses left the ring looking confident, even those with four or eight faults. As much as I like to test the skill of the riders I also like to show off the athletic ability of the horses, so I felt that it was really one of my better courses today.”
Last year, Veniss and Quabri won the €1,200,000 Rolex Grand Prix at CHI Geneva, part of the Rolex Grand Slam. In preparation for the upcoming leg of the Grand Slam in Aachen this July, Veniss deemed Spruce Meadows the perfect place to prepare his Olympic mount for the competition.
“I knew it was a difficult and technical track and there wouldn’t be too many clear rounds,” said Veniss. “Quabri is a special horse and he is very good at Spruce Meadows, and we have had good success here since our first visit in 2015.”
Peter Lutz of the United States and the 12-year-old Selle Francais gelding Robin de Ponthaul (Elf D’or x Calypso D’ Herbiers) were the first pairing to compete in the final round, and their time of 53.97 would land them in an eventual 2nd place.
“I was first to go in the jump off and I knew I wanted to go clear, and I feel that the best thing to do in that situation is to put pressure on the two,” said Lutz. ” [When you go first], you don’t have the advantage of seeing some of the lines, so I think there was definitely one less stride to the last jump that I didn’t do. You definitely can learn a lot from watching, but our horse went great and I was so happy with the double clear. I thought it was a great outcome for us.”
Finishing behind Lutz with 4 faults and a time of 50.28 was Mexico’s Fernando Martinez and the 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood gelding Cor Bakker (Colandro x Quattro).
“My horse is naturally very quick on the ground, and after watching Peter I saw the option to leave out a stride to the last fence and I really just wanted to make it smooth,” said Martinez. “I didn’t think I was that much faster with the time, and my plan in the jump off with these top riders was to just do my best, go smooth, get a nice time, and see what happens.”