Lambre and Navet Get Speed Class Wins at Spruce Meadows ‘Canada One’

Two separate $34,000 Friends of the Meadows 1.45m speed competitions were held Thursday morning at Spruce Meadows with wins for Rodrigo Lambre (BRA) and Eric Navet (FRA). 

In the first competition of the morning, Rodrigo Lambre and Mario Onate’s Melbourne emerged victorious. Lambre and the nine-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare (Verdi x Zeus) completed the fastest clear round with a time of 59.35 seconds out of 50 starters. Fifteen clear rounds were accomplished in total.

Meagan Nusz (USA) and Amalaya Investments’ Leoville 2 finished second in 59.84 seconds. Mario Deslauriers (USA) guided Lisa Deslauriers’ Scout de la Cense to third place honors in 60.23 seconds. Juan Manuel Luzardo (URY) and Mauricio Guerra Colorado’s Stan placed fourth in a time of 60.36.

“She is young,” Lambre said of Melbourne. “We bought her in the Eurocommerce auction. This is only the second week that she has done 1.45m in her life, so she is moving up. She is fast and I am really glad that I won my first class with her. Of course it is always tough to win here, but I got lucky. She is a really nice mare and I hope she keeps winning like that.”

“My track was pretty fast,” Lambre said of his round. “I did not see many riders trying to go as fast as usual here today, which helped me a lot. Most of the ones that tried had rails. It was a delicate course. I liked my track actually. I think I had a good plan and it worked out.”

The second 1.45m competition saw a win for Eric Navet aboard Signe Ostby’s ASB Conquistador, pictured above. Navet and the 14-year-old Belgian Warmblood stallion (Clinton x Heartbreaker) blazed an early clear track in 55.03 seconds to win out of 53 entries.

Adam Prudent (FRA) finished second aboard his own Vasco with a time of 55.21 seconds. Todd Minikus (USA) jumped into third aboard Matthew De Grande’s Cordonas in 55.42 seconds, and Abigail McArdle (USA) guided David McArdle’s Cosma 20 to the fourth place prize in 56.02 seconds.