Hugh Graham and Executive Privilege 3E will defend their title in the Caledon Cup Grand Prix on Sunday, September 26, at the Canadian Show Jumping Tournament in Palgrave, ON. Photo by Cealy Tetley, www.tetleyphoto.com

September 15, 2010 – Palgrave, Ontario – Hugh Graham has been a top show jumping rider for decades, and his win in last year's $100,000 Caledon Cup Grand Prix was a highlight in his storied career. The grand prix was the finale of the 2009 Canadian Show Jumping Tournament (CSJT), and Graham will be back to defend his title at this year’s CSJT, running September 22-26, 2010, at the Caledon Equestrian Park in Palgrave, ON.

A Canadian Olympian, Graham was born in Georgetown, ON, and now resides in Schomberg, ON, just 15 minutes away from the Caledon Equestrian Park. He rides for KingRidge Stables, owned by Seymour and Gloria Epstein, in King City, ON. Riding Executive Privilege 3E, Graham’s victory in last year’s grand prix represented not only a major career highlight for Graham personally, but also for the KingRidge Stables breeding program.

“It’s the biggest event in Toronto all year for the outdoor circuit,” says Graham. “Everybody shoots for it and sets their sights on it. I have a young horse, but he was due. He had been jumping well all year, and had one of his best classes in that Grand Prix.”

Executive Privilege 3E, a 10-year-old Canadian Sport Horse gelding, is the product of KingRidge’s first foal. Executive Privilege 3E’s dam is by Aerobic, and was the first foal born at KingRidge Stables. Bred to Graham’s former grand prix mount Class Action, Executive Privilege 3E’s mother produced four horses by Class Action that are currently competing at the grand prix level.

While breeding top show jumping horses is no easy task, Graham believes that there are rewards.

“It’s a big undertaking when you bring horses through from a foal to eight or nine years old to get them to the grand prix level,” he remarks. “It’s hugely expensive, but if they turn out, the value is there. Seymour and Gloria Epstein love the sport and this is something they wanted to do.”

While KingRidge breeds top jumpers, Executive Privilege 3E started out his career in the hunter ring.

“I showed him in the conformation hunters first; he’s really gorgeous,” says Graham of the handsome grey gelding. “He had a little too much blood for the hunter ring, so we made him a jumper. Right from the start, he’s jumped well and been competitive.”

Graham describes Executive Privilege 3E by saying, “He’s a really nice horse to ride, too. He’s really well broke and rides well in the ring. He is quite fast because he’s so handy. He’s just a really sweet horse.”

Once he made the transition to the jumpers, Executive Privilege 3E came up through the Young Horse program in Canada. Graham believes this was a key to his success.

“It gives us a place to showcase our horses,” explains Graham, who also plans to compete with KingRidge Stables’ young mounts in the Jump Canada Young Horse National Finals, also being held at the CSJT. “It has better prize money than in the 1.20m or 1.30m classes, and it’s a little less expensive to do. There is a lot of effort put into that program to develop it and get sponsors, which is nice. I think it’s really important to our sport here in Canada because it’s so expensive to develop young horses.”

While Graham thinks that the young jumper program helps to develop KingRidge’s young horses, what is also nice for him is that a first-class facility like the Caledon Equestrian Park is so close to home.

“There are a lot of shows there, and we probably show there seven to eight times a year,” says Graham. “It's nice that they have the big international show at the end of the year, too.”

A gold medalist at the 1987 Pan American Games, Graham is also looking forward to the positive changes to come at the Caledon Equestrian Park since the facility’s appointment as the equestrian venue for the 2015 Pan American Games.

“It’s going to be great to have the Pan Am Games here,” Graham says enthusiastically. “It’s going to give us a world-class facility here in Toronto. It will be amazing and it will be great for the local industry. For the Canadian team, it’ll be a great place to train and to really have great competitions.”

In the meantime, Graham is preparing to defend his title in the Caledon Cup Grand Prix at this year’s Canadian Show Jumping Tournament. He plans to compete with multiple mounts this year, including Executive Privilege 3E, who has had time off since the spring.

“All of the top Canadians go there; it wasn’t a gimme last year!” he laughs. “Right now, it’s one of the best show jumping facilities in Canada, for sure. When you go there, you know it's going to be tough. The organizers do their best to bring in the top course designers; that's part of it. We’re happy that they're getting the Pan Am Games, but we’re really happy that they put on major shows and put up serious prize money for us to jump for every year. It’s a big deal for us in the Toronto area to jump for $100,000.”

It will also be a good deal for Graham if he can step into the winner’s circle for the second year in a row.

For more information on the Canadian Show Jumping Tournament, please visit www.equiman.com. Follow the Canadian Show Jumping Tournament on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CdnSJT.