Millar captures Canada Cup championship for third year

Photo by Cealy Tetley "Captain Canada" Ian Millar chalked up his third consecutive Canada Cup title Sunday at the Tournament of Champions. He's shown here riding a victory lap on In Style.

It was a three-peat for Ian Millar Sunday at the Tournament of Champions horse show.

The legendary Captain Canada - still at the top of his game at age 60 - captured both the John Deere Canada Cup Championship and first place in the $100,000 World Cup Qualifier.

This is the third consecutive year Millar has won the show jumping championship with the 12- year-old bay gelding In Style, owned by Sue Grange of Caledon, but the first time he's won both that title and the World Cup class at the Caledon Equestrian Park.

The class served as the third phase of the $175,000 John Deere Canada Cup Championship, with the first two phases held Thursday and Friday. Jill Henselwood, 44, of Oxford Mills, the individual gold medal winner at the Pan Am Games in July, was Millar's closest rival for the championship, winning Thursday's first phase, a speed class. But Millar fought back on Friday, taking first in the second phase, which tested power and technique.

Chris Sorensen of Caledon East, riding Alarm owned by Foxridge Farms, clears a jump Sunday at the Tournament of Champions $100,000 World Cup Qualifier in Palgrave.

In Sunday's event, just five horses of 26 advanced to the jump-off, including Henselwood and Millar. Henselwood, mounted on Black Ice, took a daring chance with an impossibly tight turn between the second and third jumps and posted a time of 40.12 seconds, throwing down a formidable challenge.

Millar, who had the advantage of going after Henselwood, was able to strategize after seeing her round.

"It was an excellent jump-off and because of the formula (three phases); it really did come down to Jill and Black Ice and In Style and myself," said Millar. "She sure didn't make it easy. You could either slow down and take that tight turn or you could gallop around the faster way very quickly."

Millar opted to take the longer, faster route and as a result, stopped the clock at 39.25 seconds.

Hollywood director and producer Norman Jewison, Caledon's first Walk of Fame recipient, got behind the wheel Saturday at the Tournament of Champions Celebrity Ride 'n' Drive. He teamed up with rider Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, Ontario.

"It so happens that In Style could slip around there at warp speed and catch the next jump off the flow," said Millar. "He is an experienced enough horse that he could do it either way, but it was such a tight turn, you'd lose all rhythm and flow."

The horse, who was Millar's partner at the Pan Am Games, where the Canadian show jumping team won silver and secured a place for Canada in next year's Beijing Olympic Games, now gets a welldeserved rest.

Millar plans to show him lightly at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November, take another break before doing the winter circuit in Florida, then ramping up in March for the Olympic selection trials.

Millar has every intention to represent Canada for the ninth time at the Games, matching an all-time record for Olympic appearances, with In Style as his equine partner.

"He's got a brain, he knows his job very well, he's got the heart of a lion," said Millar. "He's got power, he's got technique … he's got all the qualities you need for the job."

And, as Millar continues to prove at an age when most show jumping riders have hung up their spurs, so does he.

The Tournament of Champions continues its tradition of supporting worthwhile charities including the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada, CARD (Community Association for Riding for the Disabled) and, new for this year, the Caledon based Kids & Horses Foundation.

Jay Hayes of Orangeville was third on Livarot; Kim Farlinger of Ottawa was 4th on Cordoba; Jennifer Gray of Owen Sound was 5th on Roxette Delores.

For more, visit www.tournamentofchampio ns.ca.