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Candele Breaks 2006 Summer Tour Curse

June 17, 2006

Calgary, AB --- The clouds parted and the sun finally shone down on Spruce Meadows, but true to form, along with it came a little rain. But a little sun shower could do nothing to slow down France’s Yann Candele in the Nexen Cup 1.45m.

It’s easy to understand why he’s grinning as he leaves the ring after his victory ride, Candele has just broken his first-place curse. “I think in the past two weeks I’ve been 2nd six or seven times and finally I made it through,” he laughs. Naturally part of his success is due to his horse Tyra whom Candele has been riding for a year and a half. The time allowed in the first round caused the first few riders quite a bit of grief, so he knew he would have to count on his mount’s speed. “Eric (Lamaze) went first and told me to be very efficient. Actually I was just under the time allowed,” says Candele. “You’ve got to take your chance when you have one.”

The advice of his business partner and show jumping adversary, Eric Lamaze, carried Candele in to the jump-off where he and Tyra went first and managed to maintain their lead in the 10-horse jump-off to win the Nexen Cup. Making his victory all the more sweet is the fact that this is Candele’s first victory over Lamaze in the 2006 Spruce Meadows Summer Tour. “Of course I will tease him, it’s for all the times he teases me,” jokes Candele.

Britain’s Mark Armstrong came in second on Thesaura after sailing through the first round, defying the short time allowed.” To be honest it’s a bit hard if you were early to go because you don’t really know how tight everything is,” says Armstrong. “But 10 clears is enough…they had to sort them out somehow.”

Both Armstrong and Candele compete in the CN Performance World Cup. The World Cup is the second leg in the $1 Million CN Precision Series; it serves as a final “observation” trial for the Mexican and Canadian teams being selected for the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany.

For more information please visit www.sprucemeadows.com.

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