Recently returned from the Paris Games, three-time Olympian Tiffany Foster is already casting an eye toward Los Angeles in 2024—and the potential mare to take her there.
On Sunday, August 25, Electrique helped to make her case, carrying Foster to a win in the $182,000 RBC Grand Prix at Major League Show Jumping Ottawa.
They were joined on the all-female podium by American rider Bliss Heers with Quality Star Z, finishing second on a time of 43.52 seconds. Fellow Canadian Olympian Erynn Ballard took third with Gakhir as the fastest four-faulter in the second round.
“I love this horse, I think she’s an incredible competitor,” Foster said of the 10-year-old Zangersheide mare (Emerald x Voltaire), with whom she’s been partnered since early 2023.
Only seven riders in the field of 36 jumped clear on Course Designer Olaf Peterson Jr.’s (GER) first-round track. In the second round, only Foster and Electrique (on a time of 41.34 seconds) and Heers and the 11-year-old Zangersheide gelding Quality Star Z were clear.
It was a dominant victory for Foster, though, who dashed through the timers more than two full seconds ahead of Heers.
As the highest-ranked female rider at no. 21 in the world on the Longines Rankings, the Canadian show jumper said the shortened course is where her mare truly excels. “She’s very intelligent, and so far, our success rate in jump-offs [has] been pretty strong,” Foster said.
“If I can do a good job in the first round, the minute I pick up that gallop to the first fence in the jump-off, when I send her the signal that we’re going fast, everything just starts going faster and she jumps even better.
“When you have a horse like that, you feel so much confidence going into these jump-offs.”
And for good reason. According to Jumpr, in their three rounds together at 1.60m, Foster and Electrique finish in the top 10 at 67%.
For countrywoman Erynn Ballard, who just made her Olympic debut in Paris, coming home to a podium finish in Ottawa was especially sweet. “This is a show that I’ve been coming to my entire life,” she said. “I rode here when I was a kid on ponies, and now, I’m riding here in five-star grands prix.
“I can remember walking across the bridge from the stabling area on Sundays to watch the biggest class of the week—when you used to watch Ian Millar and Big Ben—and it was so cool. Now, there are little kids walking across that same bridge to watch us.”