April 24, 2005 – Las Vegas, Nevada – Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, ON, ended his World Cup bid with a 16th place finish in the 2005 Budweiser World Cup Final of Show Jumping held April 20-24 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

With a clear round in Thursday’s opening speed phase where he placed tenth overall, Lamaze moved into 15th position in the standings following the second leg of competition on Friday night and qualified to advance to Sunday’s two-round Final.

A challenging first-round test set by course designer Guilherme Jorge of Brazil produced just three clear rounds from the top competitors in the world. Lamaze incurred a total of 13 faults, knocking down three rails and picking up one time fault for exceeding the 72-second time allowed. Riding Tempete v/h Lindehof, a nine-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by Ashland Stables, Inc., Lamaze had a rail at fence 6, a vertical set at the in-gate that caught many riders. He then ran into trouble in the combinations, knocking down the vertical at the triple combination, 7b, and the vertical at the double combination, 10b.

Lamaze still remained among the elite group who returned for the second round where he posted a clear round but was again caught by the clock, incurring one time fault. His total score of 27 faults over five rounds of jumping placed Lamaze in 16th position, tied with American McLain Ward, in his fourth appearance in the annual World Cup event.

“I was thrilled with the fact that Tempete came back and jumped clear in the second round,” explained Lamaze, 37, who won the Canadian World Cup League to qualify for Las Vegas. “He has a lot of scope, and I think that he had a decent showing for a nine-year-old horse with limited mileage.”

The only other Canadian competitor, Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, ON, just missed the cut to advance to Sunday’s Final, instead contesting Saturday’s $50,000 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Riding Special Ed, an 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Juniper Farms, Henselwood had one rail to finish tied for sixth position.

A total of 43 riders challenged the 2005 Budweiser World Cup Final. Following the first round on Sunday, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum of Germany and three-time World Cup Champion Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil were tied for the lead on four faults apiece.

In the second round, Pessoa and his veteran partner, Baloubet du Rouet dropped two rails to leave the door wide open for Michaels-Beerbaum. The number one ranked female rider in the world took full advantage, posting a clear round with Shutterfly to win her first World Cup Final title. Michael Whitaker of Great Britain rode Portofino to second place while two Germans, Marcus Ehning aboard Gitania 8 and Lars Nieberg riding Lucie 55, finished tied for third.