Las Vegas, Nevada – Eric Lamaze of Schomberg, ON, finished the opening leg of the 2005 World Cup Final of Show Jumping with a top ten placing at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Lamaze posted a clear round and stopped the timers at 65.28 seconds to place tenth overall. Winning the Canadian World Cup League to earn his invitation to Las Vegas, Lamaze was riding Tempete v/h Lindehof, a nine-year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding owned by Ashland Stables, Inc.

“My horse was very good, he doesn’t have much mileage jumping inside, we are not coming of an indoor circuit like the Europeans,” said Lamaze, 37, who spent the winter competing outdoors in Wellington, FL. “With the crowd here being so lively he was a bit distracted, but I am very happy with the result because I know he can jump even better than that. I think he will settle in and be even better on Friday.”

The only other Canadian in the competition, Jill Henselwood of Oxford Mills, ON, had two knock-downs to add an eight-second time penalty to her score, giving her a total of 71.36 seconds to place 26th overall. Henselwood’s World Cup partner is Special Ed, an 11-year-old Oldenburg gelding owned by Juniper Farms.

A field of 41 riders took to the speed course designed by Guilherme Jorge of Brazil. With the fastest time emerging as the winner, Ludo Philippaerts of Belgium clocked in at 61.59 seconds to take the lead following the first of three legs of competition. Marcus Ehning of Germany, the winner of the 2003 World Cup Final, is currently in second with Gitania 8 while the first rider to take to the course, Markus Beerbaum of Germany, is in third with Constantin.

Competition continues on Friday, April 22, at 7 p.m. The top 20 riders in the standings following Friday’s grand prix will advance to Sunday’s Final where the 2005 World Cup Champion will be crowned.