A First for Tiffany Foster in NetJets CSI4* Grand Prix
Canadian Olympian Tiffany Foster climbed atop a ‘Saturday Night Lights’ podium at the Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF) for the first time on January 28 during Week 3. Piloting Battlecry, Foster won the $215,000 NetJets CSI4* Grand Prix in front of a packed house at Wellington International. WEF hosts 12 weeks of FEI Competition at Wellington International and runs through March 31.
Over courses set by fellow Vancouver, BC, native Peter Grant, Foster bested a who’s who of show jumping from an original starting field of 46 and an eight-horse jump-off brimming with horse and rider talent.
Battlecry, a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding (Vigo d’Arsouilles STX x Latano) that Foster owns together with longtime sponsor Artisan Farms and Kent Farrington, put his massive stride to good use in Grant’s sweeping short course. They stopped the timers at 39.63 seconds as last to go.
“I’m really happy to finally check this one off,” said Foster, who took over the ride on Battlecry while still competing in young horse classes as a seven-year-old. “It feels great because I have competed a lot here. My horse has a little bit of a right drift – just like every horse, he goes one way or the other – so, I thought the jump-off was actually going to suit him.
“I knew I would be able to get the seven pretty easily up to the wall, and if you were able to take a run across the middle to that oxer and do the six into the double it required extreme athleticism on the horses part,” continued Foster, 39. “I have a lot of faith in my horse and I knew that that right drift would help me get there in that number. I also know that this horse seems to really love to run to the last jump. By the time I cleared that plank was clear, I knew I could take a rip at that last one and he was going to fly it.”
The final podium hosted an all-female top three from three different nations with Brazil’s Luciana Lossio and her own 14-year old Lady Louise Jmen taking second, and Nina Mallevaey taking third for France aboard Cartier SR, and 12-year old Holsteiner gelding (Canturenter x San Patrignano Cassini) owned by The Rein Family. Lossio clocked in just off the pace at 40.07 seconds, while Mallevaey stopped the clock at an even closer 40.12 with less than a second separating the top five placings.
“We’ve seen some pretty big guns winning here and I think that’s a testament to everybody getting ready for this Olympic year and coming knowing that this is the premier winter circuit in the world,” concluded Foster.
Read more:
A First for Tiffany Foster in NetJets CSI4* Grand Prix (wellingtoninternational.com)
