OTTAWA, June 3 (Xinhua) -- Nicole Walker and her brilliant stallion Falco van Spieveld produced one of the two double-clears that helped clinch a home victory in the Longines FEI Jumping Nations Cup of Canada at Thunderbird Show Park in Langley on Sunday.
Ireland finished second and the United States slotted into third ahead of Mexico in fourth and Israel in fifth place.
However despite his side's overwhelming success, Canadian Chef d'Equipe Mark Laskin said, "It was a bit bittersweet. It's great to win here, especially on our home field, but there were two parts to this equation. The first part we took care of, but the second part we just missed."
Laskin was referring to the fact that Canada has missed the qualification for the Nations Cup Final to be held in Barcelona in September after they finished third and last in the 2019 North/Central America & Caribbean League.
Mexico, winners of the previous two legs of the series, and United States were the only two teams to win qualification from this region.
With three first-round clears on the day's competition, Canada grabbed the advantage, and they held on so firmly that anchorman, Mario Deslauriers, didn't have to ride again in the second round because the win was already secured.
Ireland, the US and Mexico were all sharing second place with eight faults apiece going into round two, and when the Irish added no more faults they would be runners-up while the US had to count four more faults to finish third on 12. Mexico finished another fence further adrift, on 16 faults despite a superb double-clear from Salvador Onate.
