California Win for Young B.C. Rider

Jan Mansfield

B.C. Health Minister Shirley Bond presents Burnaby, B.C. equestrian Christopher Lowe with 2004 Premier’s Athletic Award

In their first outing of the 2005 show jumping season Christopher Lowe of Burnaby, BC won the Showpark Spring Festival Open Jumper Classic in Del Mar, CA aboard Jackpot, the 10-year-Oldenburg gelding he has partnered with for five years. They put in the fastest of only two clear rounds over a very technical, challenging track set by international course designer Leopoldo Palacios of Venezuela.

"It’s really exciting to start the season so positively," said Lowe. "It means we are on track, and it can only get better from here."

Lowe, a full time business student at Vancouver, BC’s Simon Fraser University, is unable to compete at the southern U.S. shows during the winter months where many riders get a start on the show jumping season. "This is a real boost of confidence," said Lowe, who piloted Jackpot around the 14-obstacle course that he described as "scopey, with tricky lines."

One of Canada’s most talented up and coming show jumping riders, Lowe has been steadily climbing through the ranks of show jumping in Canada with considerable success along the way. In 1999 he was named the World Champion Hunter rider. He rode on the B.C. North American Young Riders’ Team in 2000 and 2004, and last year received the Molson Three Star Award for Leading Canadian Rider at Spruce Meadows in Calgary. In April he was awarded British Columbia’s 2004 Premier's Athletic Award for Male Equestrian Athlete of the Year.

Following three weeks of competition in California Lowe will be travelling to Alberta for the Edmonton Northlands Horse Show where he will compete in the Kubota Cup Grand Prix, and then on to Spruce Meadows for four weeks of competition at the world’s number one ranked show jumping facility.