August 31, 2006 – Aachen, Germany – Canada's Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, ON, finished the third day of competition at the 2006 World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany, held on Thursday, August 31, in 27th position individually.

The second round of Team competition, held in the evening under the stadium floodlights, saw the top 10 ranked teams competing for Team medals.  Canada had finished the first round of Team competition on Wednesday in 13th position from a field of 24 nations and did not make the cut.  Before Thursday's Team competition got underway, 53 individual competitors hoping to qualify for Saturday's Individual competition took to the main stadium to attempt the extremely challenging track set by German course designer Frank Rothenberger.  Of the 53 individuals, only Rolf-Goran Bengtsson of Sweden came home with a perfect score of zero faults riding Ninja La Silla.

Lamaze, the final individual rider on course, had produced clear rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday to be ranked second overall in the standings behind American Beezie Madden.  Riding Hickstead, a 10-year-old Dutch Warmblood stallion owned by Torrey Pines and Ashland Stables, Lamaze started the course confidently.  The vertical at fence number seven came down, followed by the 'b' and 'c' elements of the triple combination at fence eight, which was an oxer to a vertical to another oxer.  Although he successfully jumped the rest of the 13-obstacle course, the 12 faults incurred dropped Lamaze to 27th place in the standings to just miss being among the top 25 riders to qualify for Saturday's Individual competition.

"I am sure Eric is disappointed, it was not the round he was looking for," said Terrance Millar, chef d'equipe of the Canadian Show Jumping Team.  "The triple combination was very scopey and it gave many riders trouble tonight."

In Team competition, the Netherlands won the Team Gold with a final score of 11.01.  The United States (Margie Engle, Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden, McLain Ward) took the Silver Medal with a score of 18.85 while the home side, Germany, had to settle for Bronze with 19.16.  As the top five teams, the Netherlands, the United States, Germany, Ukraine and Switzerland all qualified Teams for the 2008 Olympic Games.

Jeroen Dubbeldam, who posted a clear round on Thursday riding BMC Up and Down to help the Dutch claim Gold and move into fourth place individually, commented on the challenging course, saying, "We are in the world championships so the whole course was difficult.  From the first to last fence you have to be concentrated.  The course is very long, the oxers are very wide, and it took a lot of strength out of the horses.  Our course builder did a very good job, not killing our horses but getting enough faults."

In the Individual rankings, 2004 Olympic Team Gold Medalist American Beezie Madden of Cazenovia, NY, delivered a third clear round in as many days riding Authentic to remain at the top of the leader board while Gerco Schroder of the Netherlands was again faultless riding Eurocommerce Berlin to take over second position.  Germany's legendary Ludger Beerbaum guided L'Espoir to a clear round to move into third position.

"We still have a lot of jumping to go, probably the hardest yet on Saturday," forecasted Madden, the current leader.  "My horse feels good and I hope to make it in on Sunday."

The four best riders following Saturday's Individual competition will move forward to Sunday's 'Final Four'.  A true test of horsemanship, the competition sees the top four riders completing one round with their own horse, then rotating to jump each of the other three horses.  Canada's own Gail Greenough of Edmonton, AB, remains the only North American, and the only female, to ever win the World Championships, doing so in Aachen, Germany, in 1986 riding Mr. T.

Held every four years, the 2006 edition of the World Equestrian Games runs from August 20 to September 3 with the show jumping portion scheduled for August 29 to September 3. Featuring seven disciplines recognized by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI), the World Equestrian Games sees more than 800 equestrian athletes vying for the title of World Champion. Over 500,000 visitors are expected to attend the Games. For more information, please visit the official 2006 World Equestrian Games website, www.aachen2006.de.

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