SUNDAY SEPT 20, 2009 – BARCELONA, SPAIN – Team Canada competed in the 2009 Meydan FEI Nations Cup in Barcelona and earned a second place finish among a group of six countries including Spain, Poland, Norway, Finland and Hungary. The show jumping event was held over two rounds with each team of four riders being allowed to drop one score for each round. Canada’s Nations Cup Team consisted of Amy Millar on “Costa Rica Z”, Jenna Thompson on “Zeke”, Jonathon Millar on “Contino 14” and Keean White aboard “Celena Z”.

In the first round of competition, Amy Millar and Jenna Thompson opened up with 4 fault performances capped off by a clear round by Perth, Ontario’s Jonathon Millar. Keean White rode in the fourth position, but after knocking down a rail early in the round, chose to ride aggressively in order to prep his horse, Celena Z, for the second stage of the competition. White added, “after the first rail, I knew that we wouldn’t be in a position to better any of the scores of my teammates, so I made sure to get some additional rubs throughout the round to put Celena Z into a frame of mind to jump strongly in the second round.”

The Canadian team entered the second round of competition with a combined score of 8 faults, trailing behind the Spanish team, which managed to post three clear rounds in the first phase of the competition. Brother and sister Amy and Jonathon Millar, posted strong rounds of 4 faults each, and Keean White and Celena Z finished up with a clear final round to put the Canadians into a second place position for the Nations Cup Competition. The Canadians took home a prize of 25,000 Euros for the placing, but could not catch the Spanish team, which took home the victory in front of their home country crowd.

Credit: Function2 Inc.

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