The 50th Anniversary of the Spruce Meadows’ Masters tournament is still 10 months away, but Amy Millar has already added her name to the start list for the $5M CPKC International Grand Prix.

It’s one of the perks of winning the Canadian Show Jumping Championships.

“One of the beauties of this deal is that you are now pre-qualified for any five-star Grand Prix in Canada,” said the two-time Olympian. “So the one that is always on the mind is the Masters Grand Prix [at Spruce Meadows], because that is hard to qualify for.”

Millar topped the most competitive field at Toronto’s Royal Winter Fair in recent history to take the title, besting her Paris Olympic teammates Tiffany Foster and Mario Deslauriers and overnight leader Jacqueline Steffens.

Saturday night’s win marks her second time claiming the national championship. Millar previously won in 2017, but never had the chance to reap the rewards of the title.

“I had a baby,” she smiled. “I won it and then I didn’t show the whole [year].”

Aboard Jelvinia MB, Millar was the only rider to jump three clear rounds over the two-day championship. The 10-year-old Dutch warmblood joined her string last October—she has high hopes for the Kannan mare.

“When I tried her, I just knew this horse is my glove. I tried her over two days and everything that I did, she loved and everything that she did, I was able to deal with,” said Millar.

“She, for sure, is really careful and scopey and great technique, all of that. We joke that that’s the honeymoon and then we got married. So we went through that period a little bit where two strong mares, her and I, had to find our way to come together.”

Millar developed the mare slowly over the winter season in Florida and spent October training at her home farm in Perth, Ontario.

“It gave me time to just bond with her and spend time with her and train and work through some things and get to know her. And with a mare, that’s what it’s all about.

“In the past month, I made a breakthrough. She’s got a bit of a funny mouth, and so it’s just learning how to ride her without upsetting her mouth. I used to have more bridle on her, and now I have a full cheek snaffle and I trained her to ride with my legs and not use my hands… [now] she doesn’t go too fast anymore.”

Jelvinia will contest the 5* division next week at the Royal.

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